COMMITTEE OF JURISTS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24592, 14 June 1945, Page 6

COMMITTEE OF JURISTS

DRAFTING OF STATUTE FOR WORLD COURT WORK DISCUSSED BY CHIEF JUSTICE (P.A.) WELLINGTON. June 13. The view that the work ofithe conference, taken as a whole when collated into a comprehensive constitution, should certainly be the most important result ever accruing from an international conference, and a most important step in the direction of endeavourjng to achieve world peace and security, was expressed by the Chief Justice (the Rt. Hon. Sir Michael Myers), who has returned to Wellington from representing New Zealand on the United Nations' Committee of Jurists in the United States. Some of the keenest legal brains of the world were brought to bear on the discussions, and the Chief Justice’s contribution to a solution of many problems has received wide commendation. The part played by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) at UNCIO was warmly praised by Sir Michael Myers. Mr Fraser, he said, was a real force at the conference, and was generally so recognised. The jurists sat for 11 days in Washington, and as a result prepared a statute based on the existing statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice, but various questions, such as whether the court under the new statute was to be a continuation of the old court, or an entirely new court, were reserved for the conference at San Francisco. That question was very important, involving technical and other difficulties, said Sir Michael Myers. Some other questions were also held over, one being as to the method of nomination of judges, and another as to whether the jurisdiction of the court should be optional, as at present under the old statute, or compulsory. At San Francisco all those matters were referred to a committee which considered the draft of the statute prepared in Washington, and reached conclusions on all questions, including those held over. The findings would be handed to the commission for approval, and no doubt they would be approved and become part of the final constitution of the organisation of the United Nations.