EMPIRE DISPUTES

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 33, 2 November 1933, Page 10

EMPIRE DISPUTES

Scheme for Settlement CENTRAL TRIBUNAL Report from Conference The establishment of a central British Commonwealth tribunal to promote uniformity of legislation in the Empire and to settle disputes of a justiciable nature between the governments, was one of the most important recommendations made by the British Commonwealth Relations Conference, which was held in Toronto in Septem per last. The report of the commission set up at the conference to examine the question has just com 6 to band. The commission discussed whether any useful purpose would be served by the establishment of a Commonwealth tribunal to settle disputes between the governments, the report states. Although some members held that the number of such disputes is likely in future to be extremely small, there was general agreement that some organised system of settlement should be brought into being. It was further agreed that this organised system should include the creation of some permanent body t° which disputes could be . referred. Full agreement could not be reached, however, as to whether there should be one central permanent body established for the Commonwealth as a whole, or whether on the contrary there should be a series .of separate permanent tribunals established ,by bilateral agreement between the different members of the Commonwealth.

Advantages of Central Body. The prevailing opinion of the commission appeared to be that a permanent central tribunal for the Commonwealth as a whole would be the more satisfactory. - It was urged in support of this view:—That extensive international experience has proved the advantage of a permanent central court; ip particular that only a court which is permanent can develop the esprit de corps which is the best guarantee for its satisfactory working and for the impartiality of the justice which it administers; and that oply a central permanent court could avoid the legal difficulties which might arise from the varying decisions which would be rendered, if a scries of tribunals were set up by bilateralagreements. • From the strictly legal point of view, it was held- there would be positive advantage in having a permanent Commonwealth court in which all the judges had been trained in the laws <in force in British countries. Both on legal and other grounds it would be desirable that the judges of such a court should have in their minds a vivid consciousness of the nature and implications of special relationship which exists between members of the Commonwealth. For these reasons the majority considered that the solution of sending inter-Common-wealth disputes to the Permanent Court of International Justice must be ruled out for practical purposes. Personnel and Adjudication.

There was general agreement in the commission that the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth tribunal should be restricted to disputes of a justiciable character. Those members of the commission who were in favour of the establishment of a permanent central tribnnal were agreed that, it should be constituted on the following lines: Each member of the Commonwealth should nominate either one or two judges. > . Judges should be appointed for a long period of time, e.g., ten years, subject to removal by their colleagues in the tribunal foivmisconduct. They should be chosen from among distinguished jurists. While they are members of the tribunal they should not hold administrative office, be members of Parliament, or engage in any public employment other than that of a judicial character. Judges nominated would choose among themselves the president of the court, who would have the title of Chief Justice of the Commonwealth Tribunal. Selection of Judges. The court to deal with any given dispute should either consist of all the judges nominated by all members of the Commonwealth, or of certain of these judges, a selection being made in each case by the Chief Justice. If the latter plan were adopted it-might furnish a means by which judges would not be placed in the difficult position of having to adjudicate iu cases in which the Governments of their own countries were involved. It was further agreed that the tribunal should settle its own permanent scat, if any. It should also have the power to sit elsewhere than at its permanent seat, if in any given dispute that might appear desirable. Any member of the Commonwealth should have the right to intervene as a party In any dispute brought by other members of the Commonwealth before the tribunal, if in its own unfettered judgment it considered that it had an interest in the issues involved in the dispute. There was general agreement in the commission that it was undesirable anrl unnecessary at the present stage to establish any special Commonwealth machinery for dealing with non-justici able disputes. It was suggested by some members that in such disputes, if they are not settled by negotiations between the Governments concerned, the good offices of the Imperial Conference could be invoked.