ITALY ACCUSED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 290, 19 September 1936, Page 5

ITALY ACCUSED.

ALLEGATION BY ETHIOPIA^ CASE FOR INTERNATIONAL COURT. (United Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, Sept. 17. Haile Selassie’s solicitors have telegraphed to the Permanent Court of International Justice that, they are authorised to apply for tho.. convening of an extraordinary session to hear the case of Ethiopia in the matter of a breach of international law by Italy.

The Permanent Court of International Justice, which sits at The Hague, has jurisdiction to deal with disputes in two different sets of circumstances—where two States by a special agreement submit a certain dispute to the court for judgment (voluntary jurisdiction) and where a State summons another State to appear before the court with or without its consent (compulsory jurisdiction). Action may be taken under the second head, either where it is especially provided iu a treaty or convention in force that any*or certain disputes arising from such treaty or convention shall be submitted to the court, or where the parties to a dispute have, by a general declaration independent of the paritculav dispute, accepted the jurisdiction of the court as compulsory. This general declaration accepting compulsory jurisdiction is made by the sign of what is known as the “Optional Clause,” and admits the jurisdiction of the court in legal disputes concerning the interpretation of a treaty, any question of international law, the existence of any fact, which, if established, would constitute a breach of an international obligation and the nature or extent of the reparation to be made for the breach of an international obligation.

Once the jurisdiction of the court is accepted by the parties, it is possible, should one of them refuse to appear, to pass judgment “by default,” that is, in its absence, although only under the strictest guarantees.