Shorter Notices
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206301800427 |
| Date | 01 December 1963 |
| Published date | 01 December 1963 |
| Subject Matter | Shorter Notices |
Shorter
Notices
FLAGS OF
CONVENIENCE.
An
International
Legal
Study.
By
Boleslaw
Adam
Boczek.
1962.
(Cambridge:
Harvard
University Press.
Toronto:
S. J.
Reginald
Saunders.
xvi,
323pp.
$9.75)
Here
is a
carefully
controlled
study
of
the
economic,
political
and
legal problems
that
arise
from
the
widespread
practice
of
operating
ocean-going
vessels
under
the
flags
of
states
(Liberia,
Panama
and
Honduras)
which
have
no
genuine connections
with
the
place
where
the
ships
are
beneficially
owned. The
flags-of-convenience
device
is
primarily
a
tax-avoidance manoeuvre
favourable
to
U.S.
shipowners,
and,
as
such,
it is
opposed
by
the
unions,
the
European
owners,
and
a
number
of
European
nations
(Norway,
Greece,
Britain)
which
operate
under
heavy
tax
burdens
and
find,
therefore,
that
the
device
is
prejudicial
to
their
national
shipping
economies.
The
author
explores
these
matters
against
the
matrix
of
the
international
law
doctrine
of
nationality
of
vessels
as
well
as
the
deliberations
of
the
International
Law
Commission
on
the
"genuine
link"
theory.
He
calls upon
states
to exercise
more
effective
control
over
shipping
registered under
their
flags,
in
the
interests
of
public
order,
but
he
rejects
the
genuine
link
theory as
being
inappropriate
for
transfer
from the
realm
of
nationality
of
persons
to
the
realm
of
shipping.
He
concludes
that
the
flags-of-convenience
prob-
lem,
though
currently important
in
maritime
circles,
is
almost
entirely
an
economic
issue
and
it
may
well
disappear,
suddenly,
if
different
tax
bases
are
introduced
by
the
Europeans.
The
book
is a
thoroughly
researched,
sound
and
solid
contribution
to
an
intriguing
phenomenon.
[R.
ST.
J.
MACDONALD]
PERSONAL
REsPONSIBILITY
AND
THE
LAW
OF
NATIONS.
By
Elizabeth
Thorneycroft.
1961.
(The
Hague:
Martinus
Nijhoff.
87pp.
8
guilders)
A
most peculiar pamphlet
indeed!
The
author's
proposal
for
strengthening
international
law
is
to
make
individuals
responsible
for
its
application,
but
only
insofar
as
it is
practicable
to
impose
some
penalty
upon
a
law
breaker
without
seizing
his person
or property.
This
is
to
be
done
by
creating
Courts
of
International
Delinquency
with
powers
to
recommend
that
a
politician,
diplomat
or
other
representa-
tive
of one
country
who
has
officially
given
orders
in
breach
of
inter-
national
obligations,
should
be
treated
as
persona
non
grata
by
all
states.
Thus
a
wrongdoer
would
be
outlawed,
repudiated
by
the
whole
community of
nations,
and rendered
incapable
of
carrying
out
his
functions.
And
even
though
a
determined
government
could
appoint
another
to
carry
on
the
same
policy
this
"would
be
no
consolation
to
an
ambitious
politician
so
that
the
strength
of
the
primary
sanction
would
not
be
weakened
by
its
inefficacity
as
a
secondary
or
corrective
sanction".
This
idea
is
developed
unconvincingly
over
some
seventy
pages.
[R.
ST.
J.
MACDONALD]
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