De Rechtbank te Rotterdam heeft op 2 april 1963 (Schip en Schade 1963 no. 52) een vonnis gewezen, dat naar mij toeschijnt van het grootste belang is.

Het motorschip “Theo”, onder Costaricaanse vlag varend, was door de eigenares, de Compania Isla Bella Ltda, in tijdbevrachting gegeven aan de Belgische vennootschap “Etablissements J. J. de Craecker S. A.” Te Lagos (Nigeria) trad het aldaar gevestigde filiaal van de Nederlandse N.V. Compagnie Commerciale Hol-lando-Africaine op als agente van de Craecker en betaalde een aantal goederen en Verrichtingen ten behoeve van de “Theo”, haar bemanning en/of haar lading. Toen de Craecker in België werd failliet verklaard vroeg de Ned. N.V. deze voorgeschoten gelden terug van de eigenares van de “Theo” onder aanvankelijk gelegd (maar, na garantie van de Rott. Bank, 2e gedaagde, opgeheven) beslag op de “Theo”.

Sedert het arrest van de Hoge Raad in de zaak Solbandera is het niet meer twijfelachtig dat de Hoge Raad het recht van partijen erkent om bij internationale overeenkomsten zelf het toepasselijke recht aan te wijzen. Naar mijn mening had de Hoge Raad de autonomie van partijen ook reeds erkend bij zijn arrest inzake de treuer Nicolaas, maar Hijmans, van Brakel, Schölten en A. van Oven hebben dit betwist. Geheel onbegrijpelijk was deze mening niet, daar de overwegingen van de Hoge Raad in dit arrest wel ruimte laten voor enige twijfel.

The treatment of the subject is limited exclusively to the settlement of state-disputes by bodies of a judicial nature, no attention is paid to the removal of difficulties between states by bodies such as the General Assembly of the United Nations or similar bodies in other international organisations, nor to the category of growingimportance of disputes between states and private individuals or corporations. From the multifarious examples of new procedures created since 1945 three have been selected for discussion: first the “Conciliation and Good Offices Commission” of UNESCO, instituted by the General Conference (1962) for the settlement oj disputes concerning the application of the Convention against discrimination in education of 1960; secondly the Fact finding Center, proposed by the Netherlands' Government to the 18th session (1963) of the General Assembly of the U.N.; and finally the 2 Commissions of Inquiry, instituted in 1961 by the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation in accordance with art. 26 of its Constitution to consider the complaints, filed by Ghana against Portugal and later on by Portugal against Liberia concerning the “effective observance” by Portugal and Liberia respectively of labour conventions nos. 105 and 29 on forced labour. The examination of these 3 instances sheds sidelights on the position, which the International Court of Justice occupies in the minds of various governments, and on the authority and prestige, which the Court enjoys, a problem which increasingly vexes many scholars and institutes.

During the life of the League of Nations the Mandates, created in conformity with Article 22 of its Covenant, have only once given rise to proceedings before the Permanent Court of International Justice. The case was that between Greece, as plaintiff, and Great Britain, in her capacity of Mandatory Power, as respondent, over the concessions for certain public works to be constructed by a Greek subject Mavrommatis in Palestine under contracts and agreements which he had concluded with the Ottoman authorities in January 1914. The respondent party immediately raised a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the Court. How specious such questions of jurisdiction often are, was proved by the fact that the Court, in a Judgment of 30 August 1924 (Publications P.C.I.J., series A, No. 2), by 7 votes to 5 upheld its jurisdiction in respect of the works at Jerusalem—comprising an electric tramway system, the supply of electric light and power and of drinking water to the city—, while, obviously unanimously, denying it in respect of similar works—including in addition a system of irrigation of the city gardens—at Jaffa. This decision was based on an adjudication clause, obtaining in Article 26 of the Mandate for Palestine of 24 July 1922. On the strength of that Judgment the merits of the controversy over the Jernsalem concessions were dealt with in subsequent proceedings, terminated by a second Judgment of 26 March 1925 (ibid., series A, No. 5), by which (this time with only one dissenting vote), inter alia, the concessions concerned were found to be valid and Article 4 of Protocol XII, annexed to the Peace Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, concerning certain concessions granted in the Ottoman Empire— providing for the obligatory adaptation thereof to the new economic conditions—was held to be applicable to them.—When the ensuing lengthy negotiations between Great Britain and Greece for such adaptation reached deadlock in 1927, Greece again applied under the said Article 26 of the Mandate to the Permanent Court, with the object of achieving the award of damages for the asserted failure of Great Britain, in carrying-out the second Judgment, to comply with another provision (Article 11) of the Mandate, dealing with the methods of developing the country. Once more the British Government raised a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the Court, maintaining that it was not competent to deal with this element of the dispute, and this time, by 7 votes to 4, the Court, by a third Judgment of 10 October 1927 (ibid., series A, No. 11), upheld the objection for reasons too technical to be summarized here.

L'article 10 de la loi du 25 mars 1876, règle de droit commun sur l'efficacité des décisions judiciaires étrangères (§ 1.) – Liste des conventions conclues par la Belgique (§ 2.) – Objet de l'étude et classification des conventions en vigueur (§ 3 à 6).

I. Nature des décisions judiciaires dont l'efficacité est réglementée.

Décisions en matière civile ou commerciale (§ 7) – Condamnations civiles prononcées par les juridictions répressives (§ 8) – Actes de juridiction gracieuse (§ 9) – Notions sur la force de chose jugée, la force exécutoire et la force obligatoire (§ 10 à 12) – Caractère définitif de la décision (§ 13 et 14).

It will be a long time before the implications of the recent constitutional developments in France can be fully and definitively assessed. While there is general agreement on the far-reaching character of the recent modifications of the 1958 Constitution, the scope and content of any possible radical change in the French political system is still a matter for speculation. Too many points remain obscure.

The Norwegian Government renders extensive dental services to the public. For these services many dentists are needed. They are, however, not always available. Especially the Northern provinces, where the climate is hard, have a great shortage of dentists. While in Oslo one dentist cares for an average of 650 inhabitants, in Finmark his colleague has to look after 13.000 people. To cover the shortage the Norwegian Parliament approved, on 2 1st June 1956, a “Provisional Act Relating to Obligatory Public Service for Dentists”.

Eloquent evidence exists of the special importance of aviation accident insurance. Although air transport has gradually obtained its place under the normal means of conveyance—in international passenger transport perhaps even the first place—it still carries the odium of being more hazardous than surface transport. A comparison of the annual accident statistics for air carriers, railroads and inter-city buses up to a few years ago, shows that the number of passenger lives lost per passenger mile travelled by scheduled airlines has always exceeded the number of lives lost per passenger mile travelled on the railroads. Notwithstanding the considerably increased safety factor of air travel, the aircraft from its very nature provides a risk which in itself is much more serious than that of other means of transport. It may be that statistics show that accidents in road traffic are more numerous than those in air traffic—this on a comparable basis—but air traffic throughout the years shows by comparison more death casualties.

La Cour s'est réunie en 1963 pendant 78 jours. Elle a commencé ses travaux le 16 septembre. La session a duré jusqu'au 2 décembre. Une seule affaire a été traitée, celle du Cameroun septentrional (exception préliminaire) entre le Cameroun et le Royaume-Uni. L'arrêt a été rendu le 2 décembre.

1. Trente-six ans après que Ernst Rabel avait lancé, en 1928, sa proposition de rédiger une loi uniforme sur la vente un accord est intervenu, en avril dernier, sur deux lois uniformes, à savoir

a) une loi régissant les effets juridiques qui résultent des contrats de vente internationale d'objets mobiliers corporels;

b) une loi portant sur la formation de tels contrats,

et l'on s'est mis d'accord sur le texte des conventions en vertu desquelles les Etats s'engagent à introduire ces lois dans leurs législations nationales.