Legal > Proposal of the government of Finland to confer on the Permanent court of International Justice jurisdiction as a tribunal of appeal in respect of arbitral tribunals established by states

[Distributed to the Council,
the Members of the League
and other Governments.]
In ._v . z.(s).
Official No.: C. 338. M. 138. 1930. V.
Geneva, June 7th, 1930.
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Proposal of the Government of Finland to confer
on the Permanent Court of International Justice
Jurisdiction as a Tribunal of Appeal in respect
of Arbitral Tribunals established by States.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE COUNCIL
NOTE BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL.
At its session of January 1930, the Council considered the Assembly’s resolution of September
25th, 1929, by which the Assembly requested the Council “ to submit to examination the question:
What should be the most appropriate procedure to be followed by States to enable the Permanent
Court of International Justice to assume in a general manner, as between them, the functions of a
tribunal of appeal from international tribunals in all cases where it is contended that the arbitral
tribunal was without jurisdiction or exceeded its jurisdiction ?”
The Council invited the representatives of Germany, Finland, France, Italy and Poland to
ask their legal advisers to form a very small committee to make a preliminary study of the question
as formulated in the Assembly’s resolution. The Committee was to report to the Council at one
of its subsequent sessions.
In execution of the Council’s decision, a Committee composed of M. Gaus (Germany)
M. Erich (Finland), M. Basdevant (France), M. Pilotti (Italy) and M. Rundstein (Poland)
met at Geneva under the presidency of M. Basdevant from May 19th to 22nd, 1930. It drew up the
report reproduced below, which the Secretary-General has the honour to submit to the Council
for consideration. The present document is communicated also to all the Members of the League
of Nations and the non-Member States signatories of the Protocol of Signature of the Statute of the
Permanent Court of International Justice.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.
The Committee’s task was laid down in the resolution voted by the Assembly of the League
of Nations on September 25th, 1929, in the following terms:
“ The Assembly invites the Council to submit to examination the question: What
would be the most appropriate procedure to be followed by States desiring to enable the
Permanent Court of International Justice to assume in a general manner, as between them,
the functions of a tribunal of appeal from international arbitral tribunals in all cases where it
is contended that the arbitral tribunal was without jurisdiction or exceeded its jurisdiction ? ”
. The Committee has taken into consideration Article 81 of the Convention for the Pacific
Settlement of International Conflicts signed at The Hague on October 18th, 1907, the terms of
which are as follows:
“ The award, duly pronounced and notified to the agents of the parties, settles the
dispute definitively and without appeal. ”
On the other hand, it has considered the difficulties and controversies which may arise on the
subject of the nullity of an arbitral award.
Finally, it has examined the possibilities of judicial settlement of those difficulties which may
be furnished by Article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute of the Permanent Court of International
Justice and by Article 41 of the General Act of Arbitration.
It was not the function of the Committee to determine to what extent those two articles do
or do not permit the difficulties in question to be brought before the Permanent Court of Inter¬
national Justice after the award has been given. Its task was to investigate what procedure,
apart from those two articles, would be most suitable for bringing disputes of the kind in question
within the framework of the obligatory jurisdiction of the Court.
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Series of League of Nations Publications
V. LEGAL
1930. V. 12.
s. d. N. 1.625 (F.) 1.315 (A.). 6/30. Imp. Kundig.