The League of Nations and its Problems Part 4

'It is more than probable that this humane and commendable purpose would fail of accomplishment if a military commander conceived it to be within his authority to suspend or nullify their operation, or to regard their application in certain cases as a matter falling within his administrative discretion. Especially is this true where a military officer refuses to receive well grounded complaints, or declines to receive demands for redress, in respect to the acts or conduct of the troops under his command, from persons subject to the jurisdiction of the enemy who find themselves, for the time being, in the territory which he holds in military occupation. To provide against such a contingency it was deemed wise to add an appropriate declaratory clause to the prohibition of Article 23.'

It is very unfortunate that the book of General Davis is not at all known on the Continent, and that therefore none of the continental authors have any knowledge of the fact that a divergent interpretation from their own of Article 23(h) is being preferred by an American author.

It is likewise very unfortunate that neither the English Bluebook on the Second Hague Peace Conference (see Parliamentary Papers, Miscellaneous No. 4, 1907, page 104) nor the official minutes of the proceedings of the Conference, edited by the Dutch Government, give any such information concerning the construction of Article 23(h) as could a.s.sist a jurist in forming an opinion regarding the correct interpretation.

It is, however, of importance to take notice of the fact that Article 23(h) is an addition to Article 23 which was made on the proposition of Germany, and that Germany prefers an interpretation of Article 23(h) which would seem to coincide with the interpretation preferred by all the continental writers. This becomes clearly apparent from the German _Weissbuch ueber die Ergebnisse der im Jahre 1907 in Haag abgehaltenen Friedensconferenz_, which contains on page 7 the following:--

'Der Artikel 23 hat gleichfalls auf deutschen Antrag zwei wichtige Zusatze erhalten. Durch den ersten wird der Grundsatz der Unverletzlichkeit des Privateigenthumes auch auf dem Gebiete der Forderungsrechte anerkannt. Nach der Gesetzgebung einzelner Staaten soll namlich der Krieg die Folge haben, da.s.s die Schuldverbindlichkeiten des Staates oder seiner Angehorigen gegen Angehorige des Feindes aufgehoben oder zeitweilig ausser Kraft gesetzt oder wenigstens von der Klagbarkeit ausgeschlossen werden. Solche Vorschriften werden nun durch den Artikel 23 Abs. 1 unter h fur unzula.s.sig erklart.'

However this may be, the details given above show sufficiently that a divergent interpretation of Article 23(h) from the old English rule is prevalent on the Continent, and is to some extent also accepted by English and American Authorities, and it is for this reason that I would ask whether His Majesty's Government consider that the old English rule is no longer in force.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) L. OPPENHEIM.

LETTER FROM THE FOREIGN OFFICE TO THE PRESENT WRITER.

FOREIGN OFFICE, _March 27, 1911_.

SIR,--

I am directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to thank you for your letter of February 28th, and for drawing his attention to the misconceptions which appear to prevail so largely among the continental writers on international law with regard to the purport and effect of Article 23(h) of the Convention of October 18th, 1907, respecting the laws and customs of war on land.

It seems very strange that jurists of the standing of those from whose writings you quote could have attributed to the article in question the meaning and effect they have given it if they had studied the general scheme of the instrument in which it finds a place.

The provision is inserted at the end of an article dealing with the prohibited modes of warfare. It forms part of Chapter I. of Section II.

of the Regulations annexed to the Convention. The t.i.tle of Chapter I. is 'Means of injuring the enemy, sieges and bombardment': and if the article itself is examined it will be seen to deal with such matters as employing poison or poisoned weapons, refusing quarter, use of treachery and the unnecessary destruction of private property. Similarly the following articles (24 to 28) all deal with the restrictions which the nations felt it inc.u.mbent upon them from a sense of humanity to place upon the conduct of their armed forces in the actual prosecution of military operations.

The Regulation in which these articles figure is itself merely an annex to the Convention which alone forms the contractual obligation between the parties, and the engagement which the parties to the Convention have undertaken is (Article 1) to 'issue instructions to their armed land forces in conformity with the Regulations respecting the Law and Customs of war on land.'

This makes it abundantly clear that the purpose and scope of the Regulations is limited to the proceedings of the armies in the field; those armies are under the orders of the commanders, and the Governments are bound to issue instructions to those commanders to act in accordance with the Regulations. That is all. There is nothing in the Convention or in the Regulations dealing with the rights or the status of the non-combatant individuals, whether of enemy nationality or domiciled in enemy territory. They are, of course, if inhabitants of the theatre of war, affected by the provisions of the Regulations because they are individuals who are affected by the military operations, and in a sense a regulation which forbids a military commander from poisoning a well gives a non-combatant inhabitant a right or a quasi-right not to have his well poisoned, but his rights against his neighbours, his relations with private individuals, whether of his own or of enemy nationality, remain untouched by this series of rules for the conduct of warfare on land.

Turning now to the actual wording of Article 23(h) it will be seen that it begins with the wording 'to declare.' It is particularly forbidden 'to _declare_ abolished, &c.' This wording necessarily contemplates the issue of some proclamation or notification purporting to abrogate or to change rights previously existing and which would otherwise have continued to exist, and in view of Article I of the Convention this hypothetical proclamation must have been one which it was a.s.sumed the commander of the army would issue; consequently, stated broadly, the effect of Article 23(h) is that a commander in the field is forbidden to attempt to terrorise the inhabitants of the theatre of war by depriving them of existing opportunities of obtaining relief to which they are ent.i.tled in respect of private claims.

Sir E. Grey is much obliged to you for calling his attention to the extract which you quote from the German White Book. This extract may be translated as follows:--'Article 23 has also received on German proposal two weighty additions. By the first the fundamental principle of the inviolability of private property in the domain of legal claims is recognised. According to the legislation of individual states, war has the result of extinguishing or temporarily suspending, or at least of suppressing the liability of the state or its nationals to be sued by nationals of the enemy. These prescriptions have now been declared inadmissible by Article 23(h).'

The original form of the addition to Article 23 which the German delegates proposed was as follows: 'de declarer eteintes, suspendues ou non recevables les reclamations privees de ressortissants de la Partie adverse' (see proces-verbal of the 2nd meeting of the 1st sub-Committee of the 2nd Committee, 10th July, 1907).

There is nothing to show that any explanation was vouchsafed to the effect that the proposed addition to the article was intended to mean more than its wording necessarily implied, though there is a statement by one of the German delegates in the proces-verbal of the 1st meeting of the 1st sub-Committee of the 2nd Committee, on July 3rd, which in all probability must have referred to this particular amendment, though the proces-verbal does not render it at all clear; nor is the statement itself free from ambiguity. An amendment was suggested and accepted at the second meeting to add the words 'en justice' after 'non recevables,'

and in this form the sub-article was considered by an examining committee, was accepted and incorporated in Article 23, and brought before and accepted by the Conference in its 4th Plenary Sitting on the 17th August, 1907.

The subsequent alteration in the wording must have been made by the Drafting Committee, but cannot have been considered to affect the substance of the provision, as in the 10th Plenary Sitting on October 17th, 1907, the reporter of the Drafting Committee, in dealing with the verbal amendments made in this Convention, merely said, 'En ce qui concerne le reglement lui-meme, je n'appellerai pas votre attention sur les differentes modifications de style sans importance que nous y avons introduites.'

Nor is there anything to indicate any such far-reaching interpretation as the German White Book suggests in the report which accompanied the draft text of the Convention when it was brought before the Plenary Sitting of the Conference (Annex A. to 4th Plenary Sitting). It merely states that the addition is regarded as embodying in very happy terms a consequence of the principles accepted in 1899.

The result appears to Sir E. Grey to be that neither the wording nor the context nor the circ.u.mstances attending the introduction of the provision which now figures as Article 23(h) support the interpretation which the writers you quote place upon it and which the German White Book endorses.

Sir E. Grey notices that, in the extract you quote, Monsieur Politis, after placing his own interpretation upon the article, remarks that it is quite foreign to the hypothesis of the occupation of territory and ought to be removed from the Regulations and turned into a Convention by itself. If this interpretation were correct, this remark of Monsieur Politis is certainly true: but the fact that the provision appears where it does should have suggested to Monsieur Politis that it does not bear the interpretation he puts upon it.

Nor does it appear to Sir E. Grey that the provision conflicts with the principle of the English common law that an enemy subject is not ent.i.tled to bring an action in the courts to sustain a contract, commerce with enemy subjects being illegal.

That principle operates automatically on the outbreak of war, it requires no declaration by the Government, still less by a commander in the field, to bring it into operation. It is a principle which applies equally whether the war is being waged on land or sea, and which is applied in all the courts and not merely in those within the field of the operations of the military commanders.

The whole question of the effect of war upon the commerce of private persons may require reconsideration in the future; the old rules may be scarcely consistent with the requirements or the conditions of modern commerce; but a modification of those rules is not one to which His Majesty's Government could be a party except after careful enquiry and consideration, and, when made at all, it must be done by a convention that applies to war both on land and sea.

They certainly have not become parties to any such modification by agreeing to a convention which relates only to the instructions they are to give the commanders of their armed forces, and which is limited to war on land.

I am, &c.,

(Signed) F. A. CAMPBELL.

THIRD LECTURE

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND MEDIATION WITHIN THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

SYNOPSIS

I. Administration of Justice within the League is a question of International Courts, but it is incorrect to a.s.sert that International Legislation necessitates the existence of International Courts.

II. The Permanent Court of Arbitration created by the First Hague Peace Conference.

III. The difficulties connected with International Administration of Justice by International Courts.

IV. The necessity for a Court of Appeal above the International Court of First Instance.

V. The difficulties connected with the setting up of International Courts of Justice.

VI. Details of a scheme which recommends itself because it distinguishes between the Court as a whole and the several Benches which would be called upon to decide the cases.

VII. The advantages of the recommended scheme.

VIII. A necessary provision for so-called complex cases of dispute.

IX. A necessary provision with regard to the notorious clause _rebus sic stantibus_.

X. The two starting points for a satisfactory proposal concerning International Mediation by International Councils of Conciliation.

Article 8 of the Hague Convention concerning Pacific Settlement of International disputes. The Permanent International Commissions of the Bryan Peace Treaties.

XI. Details of a scheme which recommends itself for the establishment of International Councils of Conciliation.

XII. The question of disarmament.

XIII. The a.s.sertion that States renounce their sovereignty by entering into the League.