The Gazette 1961

siderable influence to endeavour to persuade the

nations to settle their disputes in international

courts and not by the trial of war. Now, how is

this to be achieved? It is clear that, if any success

is to be obtained in this sphere, it can only be

arrived at by conditioning those who are responsible

for the government of their countries and, not only

those indeed, but also by

indoctrinating

their

peoples with the idea that, if peace is better than

war, then the rule of law must be superior to the

use of force.

In the world in which we live to-day, this simple

fact seems far from attainment. National govern

ments do, and will, submit disputes to international

courts when, and only when, it suits them to do so,

and, only if they are so minded, do they pay any

attention whatsoever to the judgments of these

courts.

The special committee set up by the American Bar

Association, now under the chairmanship of Charles

S. Rhyne, who is its driving force, reviewed the

situation generally and in detail, organising regional

meetings

throughout America and from

these

meetings the following conclusions amongst others

were drawn:

(1) A world and regional conference of lawyers

should be held.

(2) That conferences should concentrate on means

of improving satisfactory international insti

tutions and the creation of new ones necessary

if the Rule of Law is to achieve among

nations the stability it has generally achieved

within nations.

(3) The United Nations should be strengthened

by urging

increased application of, and

adherence to, the International Rule of Law.

(4) The legal profession of the nations of the

world should undertake a long range con

tinuous effort to achieve the foregoing.

Accordingly four regional conferences were held

in 1961/62 in Costa Rica, Tokyo, Lagos and Rome,

and two delegates from each country were invited

in their personal capacities. Mr. George Overend

and I were invited to represent Ireland at Rome

and subsequently at

the World Conference in

Athens.

This is no place to speak of Greece, of the

Peleponnese, of blazing dawns and purple sunsets,

of the glories of Mycenae, Epidavrus and Delphi,

of azure skies and warm seas, of Corinth and of

Athens. It must suffice to say that the world con

ference opened in the somewhat asceptic luxurious-

ness of the Athens Hilton Hotel on July ist.

Lawyers, delegates of one hundred and five

nations, attended this conference. They were of

every colour creed and of every tongue but it was

disappointing that lawyers from behind the Iron

Curtain did not attend although a Russian delegate

was present in Rome in 1962.

It began with an invocation by the Archbishop of

Athens and after being called to order by Mr. Charles

S. Rhyne, the General Chairman, under the Presi

dency of Mr. Dimitrios Zepos, the delegates were

addressed by Mr. Spyros Pallis the President of the

Athens Bar Association, by Mr. Sylvester C. Smyth,

President of the American Bar Association, the

Honourable Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the

United States, the Prime Minister of Greece, the

Mayor of Athens and His Majesty King Paul of

Greece. After this inaugural session the delegates

were received by the King and the Queen.

In the afternoon there was a plenary session at

which the objectives of the conference were discussed

and suggestions made by delegates. This discussion

followed the obvious lines and to some extent

served merely as a "loosening-up" rather than for

any actual benefit having regard to the fact that the

working sessions for the following days were

carefully prepared and designed to cover all the

aspects of the work to be done and the objectives

to be discussed and, if possible, attained.

On Tuesday July znd

the following working sessions

took place.

(a)

Increasing use and usefulness of the Inter

national Court of Justice.

(V)

The creation and jurisdiction of regional and

specialised courts.

(f)

Law rules to encourage international invest

ment.

(d)

Law

facilitate

international

economic

associations and trade.

There is little point nor indeed any necessity to

go into the discussions here in detail save to say, as

far as the writer of this Report is concerned, with

reference to topics

(a)

and

(b),

that there was a full

and extremely useful discussion on both these

topics with reference to the necessity for creating an

obligation to use the international court of justice

for peaceful settlement, with suggestions as to how

decrees of that court might be enforced. The dis

cussion covered internal disputes disrupting internal

peace and external disputes possibly leading to war.

Furthermore it was strongly suggested that the

greatest benefit from the international court of

justice might be obtained if regional courts with

branches in various areas of the world were set up.

These regional courts would make it easier and a

good deal less expensive for governments to deal

with the international court and that there should