Book Review: The Projected Arab Court of Justice
| Date | 01 October 1959 |
| Published date | 01 October 1959 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711785900101210 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
for the measurable" and agreat deal
of
what
we
know about politics cannot be
represented in graph form, one can learn more about the springs
of
political
action from reading de Tocqueville than from the most elaborate statistical
analysis
of
the part played by pressure groups
or
minority blocks. He has an
equally high opinion
of
public opinion polls and favours investigation
of
class
and
educational categories, though he thinks that too often the wrong questions
are asked when trying to gain ageneral picture of, say, why M.P.s are Conserva-
tive
or
Labour.
The belief
is
convincingly expressed that far more relevant information could
be obtained on the actual working
of
the"
real"
political system in despite
of
the Official Secrets Act, the discretion imposed by "the Establishment" and
.. the excessive respect for the feelings
of
the kin
of
deceased statesmen
or
even
of
mere politicians",
if
the political student put the right questions. But the
use
of
alittle imaginative insight can also be recommended as witness the baffled
and
irritated reaction
of
ahigh-ranking civil servant to one
of
Laurence House-
man's Victorian sketches, "How the devil did you come to know that?
".
In
fact politics
is
an art not ascience, and no amount
of
.. human engineering"
will in the end serve to constrain the impulses
of
the human spirit which ulti-
mately in afree society, fashions political behaviour, often unpredictably and in
defiance
of
all probabilities. Nevertheless this
is
agood and informative study
of
the subject.
The Projected Arab Court
of
Justice. AStudy in Regional Jurisdiction with
Specific Reference to the Muslim Law
of
Nations. Ezzeldin Foda, Presentation
by A. H. Badawi, The Hague. Martinus Nyhoff, FI.
19.
London, Batsford, 38/-.
This study
of
the projected Arab Court
of
Justice written
by
aman now
an
official in the Secretariat General
of
the League
of
Arab States, deserves a
warm welcome.
The book
is
divided into three parts plus anumber
of
appendices, an index
and an extensive bibliography. Part I"The Arab League Peace System and the
Court
Idea"
is
areview
of
all the early efforts towards the peaceful settlement
of
disputes between Arab States and adiscussion
of
the place and role
of
the pro-
posed Arab Court
of
Justice.
It
provides awealth
of
detail concerning the various
views and proposals advocated from time to time
by
the different States and some
of
their leading personalities. Part
II
treats
of
the "Ideological Problems in
connection with the Establishment
of
aCourt for the Arab and Muslim World",
and
includes an interesting,
if
controversial, definition
of
the Arab
view
of
sovereignty and adisquisition on the "Islamic International Principles" which
the author suggest such aCourt would be particularly fitted to apply, and in so
doing might "give ahand in codifying the raw material
of
Muslim law and
co-ordinating its so-called principles into asolid and digested instrument". He
makes avaluable study
of
both proposals and requirements for the decentralisa-
tion
of
international justice. Part III entitled "Viewpoints and analysis
of
the
questions raised in the preparation
of
the Draft Statute
of
the Arab Court"
concerns itself chiefly with the problems relating to the nature and jurisdiction
of
the proposed Court and the means for enforcement
of
its orders and decisions
and contains anumber
of
sensible suggestions.
It
is
significant, though hardly to be wondered at, that the best and most
penetrating section
is
that dealing with the problems
of
international justice,
the demands which have been made to enforce it, whether
at
world-wide
or
regional level, and the way in which the Arab Court could best be organised
and integrated. The author
is
at
his least precise and accurate when
he
deals
with Muslim law, asomewhat misty entity in the international field.
The British YearBook oflnternational
Law
1957.
Editor C.H.M. Waldock. London,
New York and Toronto. Oxford University Press for the Royal Institute
of
International Affairs. 65/-.
In the opening contribution to the Volume covering
1957,
Lord McNair
647
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