On 17 February 1983, a new revised Constitution (Grondwet) entered into force for the Netherlands. It did not bring about radical changes and left the constitutional structure essentially unchanged. Because they may serve as a framework for the later analysis of the revised provisions on foreign relations, some of these lasting features will be outlined here.

One of the controversial questions in the area of human rights has been that concerning the status of economic, social and cultural rights; and while the entry into force of the two Covenants in 1976 may be considered as conclusively establishing the status of these rights under international law some dissent on the matter continues to be expressed. Much of the debate on this issue has centered on the question whether economic, social and cultural rights are “true” rights or “legal” rights of individuals; and the fact that liberal Western philosophy and socialist philosophy give different answers to this question has inevitably invested the issue with ideological and political rivalry and prestige. In part, the heavy emphasis upon producing legal documents, such as resolutions, declarations and conventions has obviously contributed to the above preoccupation. That emphasis is understandable up to a point because the rule of law is clearly the most reliable way of protecting, or redressing the violation of, human rights, and the international instruments seek to strengthen the rule of law within states. Nonetheless, this preoccupation has perhaps contributed to the restriction of attention to legal factors, to the consequent neglect of the social context within which the rule of law inevitably has to be established. The unhappy result has been that, excepting the European Convention, human rights treaties have remained largely unimplemented, even by states for whom they have entered into force, and that they are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

International obligations may rest on all sorts of persons: states, organizations, corporations, human beings; in short, all entities capable of being influenced by the contents of the obligation. It may be said that an international obligation so incumbent upon a person makes him an international person, which does not exclude him at the same time from remaining or becoming a person under some national or other system of law. The content of an obligation aims at directing the future conduct of the obligee. It must, however, be noticed that some kinds of obligation are not incumbent on persons as such, but on a society as a whole, in its constitutional function of making the legal system work, such as rules on decision-making or of conflict resolution, or the rules on securing compliance with obligations and pacta sunt servanda. They are to be applied above all by authorities (organs). They are, as it were, the rules of the game.

The elaboration of international legal standards relating to the status of women in the Commission on the Status of Women has led to an increased interest within the Commission with the problem of the implementation of these principles for, as Landy states:

“the adoption of international legislation and its formal acceptance by a growing number of countries cannot, by themselves, add to the stability of inter-State relations, unless there also exists some degree of assurance that the contracting parties really comply with their obligations…”

The Rock of Gibraltar has long been a bone of contention between Spain and the United Kingdom. Talks undertaken in Lisbon in April 1980 between the two countries on the problem of Gibraltar had however, given rise to hopes that normal relations would soon be restored between Gibraltar and Spain, that is, until the Falklands Conflict led to the indefinite postponement of negotiations in June 1982. Matters have progressed only imperceptibly since.

One of the major weaknesses of international law has been the absence of centrally organized machinery to enforce breaches of the law, as well as institutionalized sanctions against suchbreaches. This situation inspired misgivings “in the breasts of legal theorists”, and gave rise to the question whether international law was really law. Hobbes, and Pufendorf, gave a negative answer to the question; and during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Austin, s and his followers, who regard sanction as an indispensable element of a legal norm, adopted the same attitude.

The question whether non-nationals can take part in domestic elections at local, regional or national level is of major theoretical and practical significance. Under the new Dutch constitution, non-Dutch residents can for the first time be given the right by law to vote and stand in local council elections. After casting a glance over the border at the situation in other countries, the writer raises the question of whether the present revision of the constitution is not too limited in that it restricts these rights to local council elections.

Must pension claims or rights be included in the division of assets constituting part of a “total community of property” (i.e., the matrimonial property, all of which is held jointly by the spouses under the statutory provisions obtaining where no arrangements to the contrary are made at the time of marriage) upon the dissolution of a marriage? This important question was recently answered by the Hoge Raad [Dutch Supreme Court] on 27 November 1981, NJ [Nederlandse Jurisprudentie – Dutch Law Reports] (1982) p. 503. In the case which the Hoge Raad had to consider, the total community of property had been dissolved as a result of a judicial separation. Among the assets contributed to the community by the husband were all the shares in an N.V. (public company), of which he was also the managing director. The N.V. had agreed to grant certain pension rights to the husband in his capacity as managing director. These rights consisted of: (a) an old age pension of Dfl. 8,000 per annum (with a widow's pension of Dfl. 5,600 per annum), commencing when the husband attained the age of 60 (1 May 1974) and ending on the date he reached the age of 65 (1 May 1979); to provide for the pension, which the N.V. retained under its own management, a sum of Dfl. 104,000 was allocated to reserves on 31 December 1970; (b) an old age pension of Dfl. 16,430 per annum (with a widow's pension of Dfl. 8,230 per annum) commencing on the date the husband attained the age of 65 (1 May 1979); this pension was built up from 1950 onwards and was substantially increased on 1 April 1979, when it was also transferred to a life assurance company.

The United States intervention in Grenada has been characterised by some as a rescue mission, by others an act of aggression. A study of the legality of this intervention involves broad and fundamental questions about the content and nature of international law. To what extent can the policy goals put forward by President Reagan in the above-quoted speech be consistent with the present legal system? What place do human rights considerations have in international law, and how are a state's defence needs defined? These basic questions arise in studying the US intervention in Grenada, as well as the question of the capacity of a particular individual to request military intervention in his state.

In 1970, the number of refugees in Africa was estimated at three-quarters of a million; by 1980 it was estimated at five million and is still growing. One in every two of the ten million refugees in the world in 1980 was from Africa and the total number of African refugees now exceeds the population of many African countries. A discussion of the many inter-connected causes of the refugee problem in Africa, the magnitude of which continues to grow, would be beyond the scope of this analysis. However, at the 1981 International Conference on Assistance to Refugees in Africa (ICARA) it was agreed that the African refugee problem required consideration not merely in connection with the need to extend assistance to refugees, but also the need to pay attention to the forces in all their forms, that conspire to generate refugee influxes. In this regard the Conference agreed that besides natural calamities, all refugee situations in Africa are inextricably linked with cases of violations of human and peoples’ rights. Apart from these manifestly political issues, there are of course the humanitarian, social and economic aspects of the problems of refugees which must be dealt with by African States. These non-political aspects alone have created a formidable task for African governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as for the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The object of this article is to explore the normative quality and effect of scope-delineated legislation – both Israeli and foreign – in the context and within the framework of the underlying principles of Private International Law in the Israeli legal system. It should be noted that the following analysis focuses exclusively on scope-delineation of substantive legal rules (of the Israeli lex fori as well as of the foreign lex causae). Choice of law rules as such (including internationally uniform choice of law standards) and special (internationally uniform) substantive rules for situations with foreign elements will not be discussed here.

On a good number of occasions in recent years, strong feelings have been aroused in the Netherlands, particularly in political circles in the seat of government in The Hague, by two agreements which have been described as gentlemen's agreements. Both agreements involve the Dutch Government, the first being between the State on the one hand and two oil companies, Shell and Esso, on the other regarding investments to be made for the benefit of the Netherlands in the period 1980 to 1984, and the second being between the State (in this case the Ministry of Finance) on the one hand and the joint banks on the other allowing the tax authorities to have only limited rights to inspect the particulars of third parties at the banks.

Transportation – in other countries a public service owned and operated by government authorities – remains, in the United States, in the hands of private companies, following a pattern established with the construction of the Erie Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the early nineteenth century. To a visitor from Europe, an American airport lobby seems a market-place of competing firms.