Legal > Election of members of the Permanent Court of International Justice

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PROVISIONS OF THE STATUTE OF THE COURT DEALING WITH THE METHOD
OF ELECTION AND THE QUALIFICATIONS AND DUTIES OF MEMBERS
OF THE COURT.
The amendments in the Court’s Statute, provided for by the Protocol of September 14th,
1929, which was drawn up by the special conference of Government representatives and
adopted by the Assembly, do not alter the procedure to be followed by the Assembly and
the Council in the election of members of the Court. Mention should, however, be made
of the amendment to Article 4 of the Statute, which provides that « the conditions under
which a State which has accepted the Statute of the Court but is not a Member of the
League of Nations may participate in electing the members of the Court shall, in the
absence of a special agreement, be laid down by the Assembly on the proposal of the
Council».
The amendments do not affect the position of the judge to be elected in place of
Mr. Hughes, since paragraph 5 of the Protocol provides that, until January 1st, 1931, the
Court shall continue to perform its functions in accordance with the Statute of 1920.
As regards the general election of the members of the Court who will come into office
on January 1st, 1931, the entry into force of the amendments1 involves the abolition
of the four deputy-judges, the increase of the number of judges from eleven to fifteen, and
modifications in the conditions of service of the judges.
The following statement, which was prepared by the Secretary-General for the use of
the national groups, shows the changes in this respect which would be effected by
the amendments and by the resolutions regarding the remuneration and pensions of members
of the Court which were adopted last year by the Assembly, subject to the entry into force
of the amendments.
Composition of the Court.
Under the existing text of Article 3, and in the absence of exercise by the Council and
Assembly of the power to increase the number of the members of the Court, the Court consists
of fifteen members, namely, eleven judges and four deputy-judges. The election of the judges
takes place first and is followed by a separate election of the deputy-judges (Article 8).
Under the amended text of Articles 3 and 8, the Court will consist of fifteen members of
identical status, who will all be chosen by a single election ; the office of deputy-judge is
abolished.
Functions and Occupations incompatible with Membership of the Court.
Under the existing text of Article 16, the members of the Court “ may not exercise any
political or administrative function ” ; but this provision does not apply to the deputy-judges,
except when performing their duties on the Court. Under the existing text of Article 17, no
member of the Court “ can act as agent, counsel or advocate in any case of an international
nature ” ; but this provision applies to deputy-judges only “ as regards cases in which they
are called upon to exercise their functions on the Court
Under the amended text of Article 16, all the members of the Court have the obligation
not to exercise any political or administrative function or engage in any other occupation
of a professional nature. It is noted in the Minutes of the Conference of Government represen¬
tatives that the words “ occupation of a professional nature ” were intended by the Conference
“ to be interpreted in the widest sense ; that is to say, to cover, for example, such an activity
as being director of a company ” (see page 33 of the Minutes : document C.514.M.173.1929.V.
1 The provisions of the Protocol regarding the entry into force of the amendments are as follows
(paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 7) :
“ 2. The present Protocol, of which the French and English texts are both authentic, shall
be presented for signature to all the signatories of the Protocol of December 16th, 1920, to which
the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice is annexed, and to the United States of
America.
“ 3. The present Protocol shall be ratified. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited,
if possible before September 1st, 1930, with the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, who
shall inform the Members of the League of Nations and the States mentioned in the Annex to the
Covenant.
“ 4. The present Protocol shall enter into force on September 1st, 1930, provided that the
Council of the League of Nations has satisfied itself that those Members of the League of Nations
and States mentioned in the Annex to the Covenant which have ratified the Protocol of December
16th, 1920, and whose ratification of the present Protocol has not been received by that date, have
no objection to the coming into force of the amendments.to the Statute of the Court which are annexed
to the present Protocol.
“ 7. For the purposes of the present Protocol, the United States of America shall be in the
same position as a State which has ratified the Protocol of December 16th, 1920.”
The Council has taken measures to ascertain the attitude of the Governments concerned (see Secretary-
General’s circular letter No. 96.1930.V.) with a view to examining the situation at its September session.