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SAFEGUARDING THE CREDITORS OF CORPORATIONS. Edward H. Warren. Harv. L. Rev. XXXVI 509.

THE SPENDING POWER OF CONGRESS-APROPOS THE MATERNITY ACT. Edward S. Corwin. Harv. L. Rev. XXXVI 548.

ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNALS II. Warren H. Pillsbury. Harv. L. Rev. XXXVI 583.

THE THEORY OF JUDICIAL DECISION. Roscoe Pound. Harv. L. Rev. XXXVI 641, 802.

INDUCING BREACH OF CONTRACT. Francis Bowes Sayre. Harv. L. Rev. XXXVI 663.

THE EARLY WORK OF THE PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE. A. Hammarskjold. Harv. L. Rev. XXXVI 704.

THE COMMON LAW COURTS AND THE LAW OF THE SEA. John Gorham Palfrey. Harv. L. Rev. XXXVI 777.

THE TURNTABLE CASES IN THE FEDERAL COURTS. Manley O. Hudson. Harv. L. Rev. XXXVI 826.

COMMENT ON DECISIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES IN 1922. John Junior Howe. Ky. L. Jour. XI 115.

THE REORGANIZATION OF OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM. Edward Thomas. Ky. L.
Jour. XI 133.

A PLEA FOR HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION.
XXXIX 163.

Frederick Pollock. L. Q. Rev.

THE DETENTION OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. H. Hale Bellot. L. Q. Rev. XXXIX 170.

UNLAWFUL MOLESTATION. G. C. Cheshire. L. Q. Rev. XXXIX 193.

EVIDENCE OF OTHER OFFENCES. Ernest E. Williams. L. Q. Rev. XXXIX 212.

LAW AND ORDER IN A MEDIEVAL TOWN. Malcolm Letts. L. Q. Rev. XXXIX 224.

THE FIRST CLERK OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL. E. R. Adair. L. Q. Rev. XXXIX 240.

THE AMERICAN PEACE COMMISSION AND THE PUNISHMENT OF WAR CRIMES. Wm. Adams. L. Q. Rev. XXXIX 245.

JUDICIAL ETHICS: THE PROPOSED CANONS OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIA-
TION. Mass. L. Q. VIII 1.

THE ACT DECLARING THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL SHALL
BE A MEMBER OF THE BAR. Jay R. Benton, Mass. L. Q. VIII 15.
THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM OF SELECTING JUDGES AS DESCRIBED BY AN ELECTED
JUDGE. Alonzo R. Weed. Mass. L. Q. VIII 25.

THE LEGAL POSITION OF WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS.
Young. Mass. L. Q. VIII 27.

Benjamin Loring

THE PROPOSAL TO MAKE WOMEN LIABLE TO JURY SERVICE. Mass. L. Q.
VIII 36.

THE PROPOSAL FOR A FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT RELATIVE TO
TAX EXEMPT SECURITIES. Robert M. Hughes. Mass. L. Q. VIII 51.
ARBITRATION. Hollis R. Bailey. Mass. L. Q. VIII 55.
PROPOSALS FOR CONGRESSIONAL SUPREMACY. F. W. Grinnell.
VIII 66.

Mass. L. Q.

LANDOWNERS V. INTRUDER; INTRUDER V. LANDOWNER. BASIS OF RESPONSIBILITY IN TORT. Leon Green. Mich. L. Rev. XXI 495.

THE JURISTIC PHILOSOPHY OF JUSTICE HOLMES. John C. H. Wu. Mich. L. Rev. XXI 523.

THE SUPREME COURT'S ADJUDICATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES IN 19211922. Thomas Reed Powell. Mich. L. Rev. XXI 542.

FUNDAMENTAL TENDENCIES IN MODERN JURISPRUDENCE. Rudolph Stammler. Mich. L. Rev. XXI 623, 765.

ILLINOIS

LAW REVIEW

Volume XVIII

FEBRUARY, 1924

Number 6

THE WORK OF THE FOURTH ASSEMBLY (1923) OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS: A LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY

BY JOHN H. WIGMORE1

All American lawyers will presumably be interested to learn something of the work done by the Fourth Assembly, League of Nations, which sat from September 3 to September 29, 1923; and to observe its legislative methods.

The following Summary will afford the only account generally accessible for some time to come; because the Press dispatches mentioned only a few of the topics discussed, and the "Official Journal" (in English and French), giving a verbatim report, cannot be ready for publication until next spring. The "Monthly Summary" sets forth the results of the deliberations, but does not show the procedure. The present account is based on the "Journal of the Assembly," a daily bulletin issued every morning during the annual meeting.

The work will here be chronicled day by day; for this will best exhibit the Assembly's methods. It will be convenient to use the following divisions: I. PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS; II. THE AGENDA (Calendar of Topics); III. THE ASSEMBLY'S ACTION ON THE AGENDA.

I. PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS

To refresh the reader's memory, the following facts may be rehearsed:

The League came into being on January 10, 1920.

The Member-Nations are those named in the Treaty of Versailles who joined, and "any fully self-governing State, Dominion,

1. Professor of Law in Northwestern University; member of the League of Nations Advisory Commission on Intellectual Coöperation (1923).

or Colony" admitted thereafter by a two-thirds vote of the Assembly. The Member-Nations now number 54; of which 2 were admitted in 1923. The non-member nations number 9.

Each Member sends 3 delegates, but has a single vote.

All action in the Assembly must be unanimous; but its Committees, and its procedural decisions, act on the majority rule.

The Assembly (Art. III of the Pact) "may deal with any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world"; and the purposes of the League (Art. I) are "to promote international coöperation and to achieve international peace and security."

The Council (meeting quarterly) appoints Advisory Commissions of experts, who investigate the various topics through the year and make reports to the Council. The permanent Secretariat also, through its staff of experts, assists in these reports. The reports are transmitted to the Assembly, and form a voluminous mass of documents.

The Assembly (using the Continental traditions of parliamentary procedure) divides itself, on the first day, into six Committees. Each Committee contains one delegate from each Member-Nation, or 54 in all, if complete; the Member-Nations making their own assignments. Each Committee elects its own Chairman, and forms sub-Committees for the study of particular topics. Every topic on the Agenda is referred to some Committee for report, before action at a Plenary Meeting of the Assembly.

Committee One takes Constitutional and Legal Matters. Committee Two takes Reports of Expert Advisory Commissions. Committee Three takes Reduction of Armaments. Committee Four takes Budget and Financial Matters. Committee Five takes Social Welfare and General Matters. Committee Six takes Political Mat

ters.

All matters to be considered must be placed upon the Agenda (Calendar). Rule 4 of Procedure defines the mode of doing this:

"1. The Agenda shall be drawn up by the Secretary-General with the approval of the President of the Council. The complete Agenda shall be circulated as nearly as possible four months before the date fixed for the opening of the session.

"2. The Agenda of a general session shall include:

(a) A report on the work of the Council since the last ses-
sion of the Assembly, on the work of the Secretariat,
and on the measures taken to execute the decisions of
the Assembly;

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(b) All items whose inclusion has been ordered by the Assembly at a previous Session;

(c) All items proposed by the Council;

(d) All items proposed by a Member of the League;
(e) The Budget for the next fiscal period, and the report
on the accounts of the last fiscal period.

"3. Any Member of the League may, at least one month before the date fixed for the opening of the Session, request the inclusion of additional items on the Agenda. Such items shall be placed on a supplementary list, which shall be circulated to the Members of the League at least three weeks before the date fixed for the opening of the Session. The Assembly shall decide whether items on the supplementary list shall be included in the Agenda of the Session.

"4. The Assembly may, in exceptional circumstances, place additional items on the Agenda; but all consideration of such items shall, unless otherwise ordered by a two-thirds majority of the Assembly, be postponed until four days after they have been placed on the Agenda and until a committee has reported upon them."

Speeches are made from the rostrum, in Continental fashion. Either English or French is used; and an interpreter immediately repeats the speech in the other of those two languages.

All meetings of the Assembly are public; also all meetings of the Committees (unless by special vote). All proceedings are verbatim reported (even private ones), and are subsequently printed (in English and French) for general circulation, in the "Official Journal." Subscriptions may be entered with the World Peace Foundation, 40 Mt. Vernon St., Boston.

We are now in a position to understand the Agenda and the deliberations thereon.

II. THE AGENDA (Calendar)

At the opening of the session, the Agenda contained the following 29 items:

1. Election of the Committee to Report on the Credentials of Delegates.

2. Election of the President.

3. Examination and adoption of the Agenda.

4.

Nomination of Committees and election of Chairmen of

the Committees.

5. Election of six Vice-Presidents.

Items Circulated Under Rule 4, Paragraph 2 (a), of the Rules

of Procedure:

6. Report on the work of the Council since the last session of the Assembly, on the work of the Secretariat and on the measures taken to execute the decisions of the Assembly.

Items Circulated Under Rule 4, Paragraph 2 (b), of the Rules of Procedure:

(Items inserted by direction of the Third Assembly)

7. Reduction of Armaments. Report of the Temporary Mixed Commission.

8. Slavery. Report by the Council on the information received. 9. Amendment to Article X of the Covenant. (Proposal by the Canadian Government.)

10. Statement by the Council of the League and the Governing Body of the International Labor Office on new work involving new expenditure on the part of the League.

11. Deferred pay and pensions scheme.

Items Circulated Under Rule 4, Paragraph 2 (c), of the Rules of Procedure:

(Items proposed by the Council)

12. The work of the Economic and Financial Commission. 13. The work of the Advisory and Technical Committee for Communications and Transit.

14. The work of the Health Organization of the League, including the work of the Epidemic Commission.

15. Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs. The work of the Advisory Committee.

16. Traffic in Women and Children. The work of the Advisory Committee.

17. Refugee questions. Reports by the High Commissioner.
18. Intellectual Coöperation. The work of the Committee.
19. The allocation of the expenditure of the League.

20. Election of a judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice to fill the vacancy caused by the death of M. Ruy Barbosa. (Article 14 of the Statute of the Court.)

21. Procedure for adoption of the Budget at plenary meetings of the Assembly.

22. Protection of minorities of Esthonia.

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