Book Reviews : The Effect of Independence on Treaties. A Handbook published under the auspices of the International Law Association, prepared by the Committee on State Succession to Treaties and other Governmental Obligations. London, Stevens & Sons, 1965: 5 guineas
| Date | 01 April 1967 |
| Author | J.H.W. Verzijl |
| Published date | 01 April 1967 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786700300106 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
73
earlier
years.
Thus,
by
contrast
with
the
firm
manner
in
which
it
had
upheld
its
Statute
in
the
Free
Zones
case
(1929),
he
criticised
severely
its
failure
to
tackle
the
question
of
the
validity
of
the
Convention
of
Saint-
Germain-en-La,ye
in
the
Oscar
Clzinn
case
(1934).
This
led
the
author
to
comment
upon
the
tendency
of
the
Court
&dquo;to
allow
itself
to
be
too
blindly
led
by
the
litigants,
and
consequently
to
exchange
its
judicial
seat
for
that
of
the
former
arbitrators&dquo;
(p.
528).
This
criticism,
however,
did
not
lead
Professor
Verzijl
to
modify
his
view - which
is
surely
correct-
that
one
of
the
most
interesting
features
of
the
Court’s
practice
wa,s
the
way
in
which
inter-State
litigation,
from
the
purely
technical
point
of
view,
was
gradually
developing
&dquo;into
true
proceedings
which
conform
to
a
well
thought-out
plan&dquo;
markedly
distinct
&dquo;both
in
comparison
with
the
older
arbitral
proceedings
between
States
and
with
the
internal
order
of
procedure
of
individual
countries&dquo;
(p.
514).
A
particularly
interesting
ariticle
on
this
theme
is
that
entitled
&dquo;The
law
of
inter-State
procedure
in
course
of
development&dquo;
zip.
339).
There
is
no
index,
but
it
is
understood
that
a
combined
index
is
in
preparation
for
Volumes
I
and
II.
A
curious
feature
of
the
book
is
that,
whereas
all
the
articles
therein
are
in
English-having
in
some
cases
been
translated
from
Dutch,
French
or
German -
many
of
the
quotations
from
the
judgments
and
opinions
of
the
Court
remain
in
French.
In
the
reviewer’s
opinion
it
would
have
been
better
to
translate
everything
into
English,
and
possibly
to
have
brought
out
a
completely
French
edition
as
well.
This
comment,
however,
should
in
no
way
detract
from
a
work
which
is
likely
to
be
of
the
highest
value
to
all
serious
students
of
international
law.
D.
H.
N.
JOHNSON
The
Effect
of
Independence
on
Treaties.
A
Handbook
published
under
the
auspices
of
the
International
Law
Association,
prepared
by
the
Committee
on
State
Succession
to
Treaties
and
other
Governmental
Obligations.
London,
Stevens
&
Sons,
1965:
5
guineas.
There
was
a
time
when
international
lawyers
thought
that
it
was
possible
to
write
a
comprehensive
treatise
on
State
succession,
covering
the
whole
field,
on
the
slender
basis
of
the
relatively
spare
data
of
an
international
legal
practice
which
was
often
contradictory.
In
order
to
draw
an
at
least
relatively
complete
and
consistent
picture
of
the
legal
situation
which
emerged
from
an
analysis
of
that
practice,
they
were
often
compelled
to
disregard
many
discrepancies
found,
and
to
fill
in
the
many
lacunae
from
certain
a
priori
principles,
which,
the
writers
concerned
held,
governed
the
subject
matter.
A
remarkable
change
has
since
occurred.
Not
only
was
the
aprioristic
approach
from
supposed
general
legal
principles
gradually
abandoned,
but
the
authors
also
began
to
limit
their
doctrinal
analysis
of
the
legal
situation
more
and
more
to
specific
parts
of the
enormous
field:
succession
in
public
State
debts,
concessions,
and
other
vested
rights,
exi.sting
legislation,
treaties,
and
so
on,
or
to
specific
causes
of
territorial
succession:
annexation,
cession,
fusion,
dismemberment,
etc.
The
Institut
de
droit
international,
during
its
Salzburg
.session
of
1961,
decided
to
set
up
a
Committee
to
examine
the
problem
of
&dquo;the
fate
of
treaties
in
the
case
of
the
creation
of
a
new
State
at
the
expense
of
a
pre-existing
State&dquo;,
and
the
International
Law
Association
did
virtually
the
same
thing
by
concurrently
establishing
a
Committee,
mentioned
in
the
title
of
the
book
reviewed
here,
to
deal
specifically
with
the
con-
temporary
practice
with
respect
to
the
effect
of
the
independence
of
colonial
territories,
protectorates
and
mandates
on
treaties,
which
is
indeed
one
of
the
most
ticklish
problems
of the
whole
subject.
The
book
is
the
outcome
of
the
labours
of
this
latter
Committee
under
the
chairmanship
of
Professor
Ch.
Rousseau
of
the
University
of
Paris,
who
is
also
the
Rapporteur
of
the
corresponding
Committee
of
the
Institut
de
driot
international.
It
deserves
high
~praise,
both
for
the
pains-
taking
research
work
devoted
to
the
thorny
question
by
this
international
team
of
lawyers,
and
for
the
extent
of
the
detailed
factual
data
collected,
analysed
and
assessed
as
to
its
juristic
relevance.
Elaborate
appendices
throughout
the
handbook
embody
a
wealth
of
information,
on
the
fate
of
treaties
applying
to
old
and
new
(British)
Commonwealth
members,
on
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