World Peace Through Law body has successful session

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 17

World Peace Through Law body has successful session

(By

WILLIAM H. STRINGER,

BELGRADE. Strengthening the rule of law throughout the world was the object of the 4000 lawyers from 114 nations who met recently in Belgrade for the fifth biennial World Peace Through Law conference.

A “pledge of Belgrade,” unanimously adopted, emphasised that the world’s jurists “must assume full leadership and responsibility fpr fulfilling the ultimate purpose of law: the establishment and maintenance of an orderly society where people can live together in peace.” At the closing session, the lawyers approved proposals for revision of the United Nations Charter; moves to protect the global environment; a draft treaty regulating exploitation of the- ocean floor; a convention to control weather modification; stronger measures against aircraft hijacking; more use of computer technology to make legal rules and codes available world-wide; the establishment of an international criminal court; enlarged jurisdiction for the World Court and provision for suits by civilians as well as governments; endorsement of legal aid; and stricter control of narcotics abuse.

Sharp debate developed over United Nations Charter revisions between world federalists who would make the General Assembly a world power with direct authority from the people, and those who favoured piecemeal revisions, such as compulsory judging of dis-

putes and universality of membership. On a vote,'the latter won by a small margin.

“DEMONSTRATION TRIAL” The dramatic climax of the conference was a “demonstration trial,” with the chief justice of the United States presiding in the role of a benign international judge. Chief Justice Warren Burger and his five bench-mates delved into the complexities involving the imagined crash of an American-launched spacecraft on the Jugoslav National Assembly building. Since the other judges, all past or present chief justices, were from five countries, and plaintiffs and defendants represented six countries, those doing the simultaneous translations had a busy evening. In the demonstration trial, which packed the conference hall, sponsors had shrewdly arranged the case so that two of the three plaintiffs represented private citizens —those injured in the disaster, who happened to be visitors from other countries. The defenders were likewise three, the United States, Japanese, and Italian companies who made the rocket components. Novel points of law were raised, such as:

What law should prevail, that of the United States which launched the spacecraft, that of Jugoslavia where it landed, or some new international law? ■ Would law made*’ for horse-and-buggy days apply to spacecraft satisfactorily? Could private citizens sue, as they cannot do at the World Court?

The judges found the United States liable, but with the possibility of recouping against the component manufacturers. The verdict was not unanimous, which was not surprising, since the five justices were from many judicial systems, those of India, Ghana, Norway, Jugo-' slavia, and the United States. Sponsors expressed the hope that the trial showed the value of resort to international tribunals, the need for world law, and the value of permitting private citizens to sue in world tribunals.

Charles S. Rhyne, president of the World Peace Through Law Centre presented the conference’s award for the world’s “outstanding jurist” to the former United States Chief Justice Earl

Warren, who attended all sessions. The next conference, two years hence, will be in either Latin America or Africa. The world assembly of judges usually meets with the lawyers and jurists, as it did this time. SUMMING UP Summing up at a closing banquet, Mr Rhyne told the delegates that in their research, debate, and drafting they had lived up to their responsibilities at a time when a global “turning to t|ie law” was distinctly visible. He urged members to go home to discuss their proposals and views at the highest levels of their own governments. He emphasised that the success of the conference at the Jugoslav East-

West crossroads proved that peoples of opposite politics and ideologies could share common convictions and aspirations under the rule of law.—United States Information Service.