Book Review: Yearbook of the International Law Commission 1949, Yearbook of the International Law Commission 1950, Yearbook of the International Law Commission 1951, Yearbook of the International Law Commission 1956, Yearbook of the International Law Commission 1957
| Author | Edward McWhinney |
| Date | 01 September 1959 |
| Published date | 01 September 1959 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205901400314 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
226
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
Court
as
a norm-making
agency
in
relation to
international
law.
For
one
thing,
major
political
disputes
that
involve
great
power
conflicts
never
seem
to
reach
the
World
Court,
but
are
settled,
if
at
all,
by
other
means-by
special
agreement or
compromise,
"Summit"
meetings,
or
faute
de
mieux
by
"direct
action."
And
the
Court
itself
has
been
hampered
in
its
work
by
failure
to
agree
on
what
is
"legal"
and
what
is
"political"
for
purposes
of
criteria
for the
determination
of
disputes.
Experience
with
judicial
review
in
the
municipal law
jurisprudence
of
a
number
of
countries
suggests
that,
in
public law,
such
a
distinction
is
either
impossible
or
else
one
only
of
degree;
but
courts
like
the
United
States
Supreme
Court
are
in
a
position
to
command
fairly
general
acceptance
and
respect,
even
for
their
more
overtly
"political" decisions, because
there
is
a
large
back-log
of
public
acquiescence
in
and
support
for
the
work of
the
court
and
because
the
Executive
arm
of
government
can
normally
be
relied
on
to
apply
sanctions
to
ensure
enforcement
of
the
court's
decisions.
Lacking
these
supports,
however,
the
World
Court
must
perforce
apply
a
philosophy
of
judicial
self-restraint
or
else
risk
having
itself
defied,
with
consequent damage
to
pres-
tige.
Albania
still
refuses
to
pay
the
monetary
judgment
that
the
World
Court
assessed
against
it
in
its
dispute
with
the
United
Kingdom
in
the
Corfu
Channel
case;
while
even
the
Court's
judg-
ment
in
the Anglo-Norwegian
Fisheries
case
a
dispute
of
a
relatively
low
order
of
magnitude
and
involving two
countries
that
were
old
friends,
has
been
sharply
criticized by
British
writers
for
the
"political" flavour
of
the
majority
opinions.
Faculty
of
Law,
EDWARD
MCWHINNEY
University
of
Toronto
YEARBOOK
OF
THE
INTERNATIONAL
LAW
COMMISSION
1949.
1956.
(Toronto:
Ryerson.
vi,
312pp.
$3.00.)
YEARBOOK OF
THE
INTERNATIONAL
LAW
COMMISSION
1950.
Volume
I. 1957.
(Toronto:
Ryerson.
ix,
342pp.
$3.50.)
YEARBOOK OF
THE
INTERNATIONAL
LAW
COMMISSION
1950.
Volume
II.
1957.
(Toronto: Ryerson.
iii,
385pp.
$4.00.)
YEARBOOK OF
THE
INTERNATIONAL
LAW
COMMISSION
1951.
Volume
I.
1957.
(Toronto:
Ryerson.
4
50pp.
$4.50.)
YEARBOOK OF
THE
INTERNATIONAL
LAW
COMMISSION
1951.
Volume
II.
1957.
(Toronto:
Ryerson.
iii,
146pp.
$1.50.)
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