This article is divided into four parts. The first aims to place the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea in its historical context. The second describes some aspects of the first three sessions of that Conference (1973–1975). In the third an account of major specific interests and conflicts which have appeared in this Conference is given. Finally, some tentative conclusions are drawn—tentative, because the Conference has not yet completed its labours.

During its first session (1949) the newly established International Law Commission, set up by the General Assembly in accordance with the provision of Article 13 of the Charter relating to the codification and progressive development of international law, included the topics of the régime of the high seas and the régime of territorial waters in its provisional list of fourteen topics selected for codification. It placed the régime of the high seas on its priority list, and appointed Professor J.P.A. François (The Netherlands) as special rapporteur. At the recommendation of the General Assembly in resolution 374 (IV) of 6 December 1949 the Commission in 1950 included the régime of territorial waters on its priority list, and in 1951 it initiated work on that topic, for which Professor François was also designated special rapporteur. The Commission was heavily occupied with both these topics until 1956.

Although some aspects of intellectual freedom embodied in the concept of academic freedom find their sources in earlier times, the modern development of the doctrine is largely derived from the nineteenth century German concepts of lehrfreiheit and lernfreiheit—freedom of teaching and learning respectively. The basic concept was that a university faculty member was free to teach what and how he thought best and students were free to learn what and how they thought best, with university authorities or external agencies such as governments imposing only the most minimal restraints on either teacher or student. The professor and student were viewed as engaged in a typically nineteenth century concept of laissez-faire, with the optimum situation being that of the least possible restriction on the teaching and learning process.

Part of this concept—primarily that of freedom of teaching—crossed the Atlantic and found expression in the United States. This article will explore the meaning and premises of the doctrine of academic freedom of the teacher and research scholar, lehrfreiheit, as it so developed in the United States.

In every system of law there exist formalized rules of evidence, according to which facts have to be proven.

A party in court may be required by his opponent to prove all the facts on which he desires to rely.

Yet there must be a limit to the legal uncertainty of an endless chain of facts for which, otherwise, an equally endless chain of proofs might be demanded.

Judges have a proper and powerful way to prevent superfluous debates as to the existence of what they deem to be generally known, or to have been already sufficiently established in a number of previous cases. Such facts can be declared to have become “public”, “judicial” or “common knowledge”.

A fact so declared may, actually, be of a very complicated nature, such as a generally accepted scientific theory. The danger is, that no scientific theory is completely static, and widely accepted theories may, with justification be undermined by newer and more refined insights, but it usually takes some time until the new—and perhaps better—theory becomes generally accepted.

For that reason, theories which are in a flux, or are being competently questioned, cannot be easily declared to have been solved one way or the other. Predilection towards a particularly emphasized conception to such extent as to declare that conception not merely preferred, but “public knowledge” may foreclose for a considerable time the prevalence of better conceptions.

Great efforts have been made during the last decade to combat all forms of racial discrimination and anti-semitism, by legislation as well as on the social plain. On an international level, special conventions have been adopted, and some countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and Austria have, in addition, adopted special provisions to deal with their own specific problems. The growing number of foreigners who now come to work (Arabs, Africans, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, Turks etc.) in Western Europe, have aggravated the ever present tradition of racism and anti-semitism, and have produced new forms of racial discrimination. In 1972, France widened the legislation which had been initiated in 1939. A number of cases have already been decided by French courts applying the 1972 law and in this article we will discuss its practical application.