It is the purpose of this paper to describe Canadian approaches toward international law, as they have evolved in recent years, particularly in relation to activities in outer space and “ocean space” made possible by new technological developments. It is intended to demonstrate both the similarities and the dissimilarities in these new approaches as compared with those followed by Canada in the past. Not within the scope of this study are questions about the validity of a particular point of view expressed by Canada, the extent to which new positions are well founded in the traditional concepts of international law, whether precedents for particular concepts are or are not correctly interpreted by Canada spokesmen and negotiators. What we are setting out to do is to observe and describe new Canadian attitudes toward international law and to evaluate their significance. History has not yet allowed us the privilege of a perspective in time. We plead this defense for the errors we may make in both interpretation and evaluation.

Professor Briggs’ summary of the decision of the International Court of Justice in the Case Concerning the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company Limited fairly recapitulates the principal reasons which led the Court to deny “the existence of any general rule of international law or of any special circumstances or considerations of equity which confer a right of diplomatic protection of national shareholders in a foreign company where the acts complained of were directed by authorities of a third state against the company rather than against any legal rights of the shareholders as such.”

In the Bangladesh crisis, two important objectives of international law appeared to be in conflict: that of peace and that of justice. The former objective is set out in the rules of the U.N. Charter against the use of force by states except in self-defense against an armed attack. The second is found in the provisions of the Charter and in various resolutions, declarations, and covenants pertaining to fundamental human rights and self determination.