Legal > Amendment of the Covenant of the League of Nations in order to bring it into harmony with the pact of Paris > No. 3

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Finally, the Hungarian Government cannot omit to emphasise the necessity for amending
the articles of the Covenant of the League of Nations in such a way as to secure the maximum
participation, in the solution of questions of a legal character, of the international judicial authorities
which are called upon to collaborate with the League of Nations.
Irish Free State.
Letter of July 30TH, 1931.
With reference to the Acting Secretary-General’s letter (Circular Letter 304.1930.V) of
November 20th, 1930, the Irish Government have the honour to state that they have no objection
in principle to the amendments of the Covenant proposed by the Sub-Committee of the First
Committee of the eleventh Assembly, and they consider that, in all the circumstances, those
amendments provide the most suitable means of incorporating in the Covenant the general
prohibition of resort to war and the principle that the settlement of international disputes should
never be sought except by pacific means.
While they are thus prepared to accept the amendments referred to in their present form,
the Irish Government feel that there are certain respects in which the proposed texts might
be improved from a drafting point of view. Thus, the formula in Article 12 (1), " likely to lead
to a rupture ”, implying as it does a restriction of the general principle of pacific settlement to
which it is sought to give effect in the proposed amendments, should, in the opinion of the Irish
Government, be eliminated from the text of that article and, consequentially, from the text of
Article 15 (1). The Irish Government also feel that some additional words are required in order
to make clear the scope of this latter article, and for this reason they propose that Article 15
should open as follows: “ If there should arise between Members of the League any dispute which
cannot be otherwise settled and which is not submitted to arbitration or judicial settlement in
accordance with Article 13, the Members . . . ”
The Irish Government assume that an opportunity of discussing this, and such other changes
in the proposed texts as may be suggested, will occur during, the forthcoming Assembly.