New-York tribune., 1920-10-16
William Howard Taft
Discusses
Plan for World Court

"E-The Interpretation of q sentence
passed by the court.
The court shall also take cogni-
zance OF all disputes of any kind which
may be submitted to it by a general or
ties. P"-
In event of dispute as to whether
a certain case 9omes within any of
the categories above mentioned, the
matter shall be settled by the decision
OF the court.
Article 35
article XXXV. The court shall
within the limits of it's jurisdiction. as
deiined in Article 81, apply in the order
following:
First - International conventions
whether general or particular, estab
lishlng rules expressly recognized by
the contesting states.
Second-lnternati custom. as
evidence of a general practice which
is accepted as law.
"Third-The general principles of
iaW, recognized by civilized nations.
'Fourth-Judicial decisions and the
teachings of the most highly qualified
publlcists of the Various nations. as
subsidiary means for the determine
ton of rules of law"
Article XXAVI provides for advisory
.p'i''UHS' NHdPter Ill hXeS procedure 1t
IS not necessary to dwell upon this.
Artlcle AAAlA gives the court the right
TO suggest to the parties and the council
the necessity for provisional measures.
as Tor instance, preliminary injunc-
tlon, or the appointment of a receiver,
10 preserve the respective rights of
the parties pending the hearing. The
judgment of the court is to be given
by a majority vote, with reasons for
the Judgment. Judges who dissent. if
any, may have their dissent noted but
not dissenting opinions. Whenever a
treaty or convention is before the
terested, not parties to the dispute.
they are to be allowed to intervene.
1t is plain from these provisions,
thct II this report of the commission
is adopted the international court
created is not merely body to which
parties may voluntarily resort, but it
Is court in which one party to a dis
rute may go and bring the other
party before the court and if the uues-
flon is found by the court to be one
OF those described in Article XXXIV.
the court has jurisdiction to require the
, defendant to appear and to take
cognizance of the case, with or with
out the consent of that defendant. The
description of the subject matter in
Srticle ANAlV is not an exhaustive de-
scrlptlon of what are iusticiable oues-
tions, but it certainly includes most of
those likely TO arise.
Senate Rejected Feature
This tribunal here created j, q court
OF superior and general jurisdiction.
as distinguished from mere board or
commission of arbitration. 1t is to
act on the complaint of one state
against another, to summon that other
state before it, to decide whether it
has to hear and adjudge the issue.
whether the defendant consents to the
jurisdiction or not. This was the fea-
ture of the universal arbitration
treaties with France and Great
Britain, which the Senate refused to
ratify in 1911.
The principles to govern the court
and its judgment are set out in such
way as to obtain the building up of
the science Of international law by
Judicial precedent in more ample way
than ever before attempted. 1t will
be noted that the judges are not to be
in politics when discharging their
functions. They are to be lifted out
oil such an atmosphere. They are to
be independent and officially respon-
sible to no national constituency, ex-
~SPe IhC iCd6 WIiCu SelcCtS lncm ana
pays them, and they can only be re-
moved by the unanimous action Of
their colleagues.
The broad distinction between an
arbitration and hearing by a court
is that awards of the former are likely
to be a mere continuance of the nego-
tiations whose failure has made arbi-
tration necessary and to be an effort
to reach compromise as nearly salts
out regard for principles of juris-
prudence, while judgments of court
are reached solely by applying law to
the facts, without regard TO the salts
faction of the parties. The latter
method helps Jurisprudence to grow
by furnishing valuable precedent. 1t
educates the family of nations in the
rule of justice and righteousness.
1t is Of great Importance to note the