The rôle of the individual in international law has for some time past been the subject of searching analysis by distinguished theorists. Recently the traditional doctrine that individuals are its objects only has been forcefully attacked by Professor Lauterpacht. It is intended to describe in this article certain developments on the international plane which affect the position of a specific group of individuals, the refugees.

At first sight, the terms “sovereignty” and “international co-operation” as bracketed together in the title, may seem to imply the contrast, if not conflict, between an individual state's sovereign self-determination and the co-operation, for mutual benefits derived therefrom, between several sovereign states.

When hostilities with Germany were brought to an end by means of unconditional surrender in 1945 and the Nazi Government disintegrated, authority to determine Germany’s existing and future treaty relations was assumed by the military occupants.

Tibet has recently been invaded by Communist China and deprived of independence. The Mao Tse-Tung government justifies the invasion by China’s claim to suzerainty over Tibet, though the latter, before finally disappearing from the international scene, had again and again denied that she was still a vassal of China.