PEACE ON TRIAL―A COMMENT
| Published date | 01 September 1949 |
| Author | George V. Wolfe |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591294900200310 |
| Date | 01 September 1949 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
425
PEACE
ON
TRIAL—A
COMMENT
GEORGE
V.
WOLFE
The
College
of
Idaho
N
AN
article
recently
published
in
this
Quarterly
Professor
F.
B.
Schick
t
argues
cogently
that
certain
features
of
the
Inter-American
Treaty
of
Reciprocal
Assistance,
of
the
Brussels
Pact,
and
of
the
proposed
North
Atlantic
Treaty
stamp
these
agreements
as
regional
arrangements,
and
that
as
such
they
are
not
reconcilable
with
the
United
Nations’
Charter-’
Since,
however,
each
of
the
aforesaid
treaties
presents
itself
by
explicit
reference
to
Article
51
of
the
Charter2
under
the
guise
of
a
simple
treaty
of
collective
self-defense,
it
may
be
well
to
point
out
that
even
though
the
North
Atlantic
Treaty
were
no
more
than
a
treaty
of
collective
self-
defense,
it
could
not
qualify
under
Article
51
as
long
as
non-Members
of
.
the
United
Nations
(Italy
and
Portugal)
are
parties
to
the
treaty.
Article
51
recognizes
the
&dquo;inherent
right&dquo;
of
collective
self-defense
only
&dquo;if
an
armed
attack
occurs
against
a
Member
of
the
United
Nations.&dquo;
Since,
however,
collective
self-defense
treaties
are
limited
for
Members
of
the
United
Nations
to
alliances
with
other
Members
of
the
United
Nations,3
3
exception
must
be
taken
to
the
sweeping
view
expressed
in
Professor
Schick’s
article
that
none
of
the
Soviet
sponsored
post-war
treaties
&dquo;can
be
construed
as
contrary
to
the
letter
and
spirit
of
the
United
Nations’
Charter.&dquo;
Those
Soviet-sponsored
alliances,
the
parties
to
which
are
a
Member
and
a
non-Member
(Albania,
Bulgaria,
Finland,
Hungary,
Ru,
mania)
of
the
United
Nations,
contravene
Article
51
of
the
Charter.
However,
the
pattern
of
such
alliances
in
violation
of
the
United
Nations’
Charter
was
set
by
the
Anglo-Transjordan
Treaty
of
March
22,
1946.
Professor
Schick
holds,
that
&dquo;Article
51,
which
permits
military
measures
of
individual
or
collective
self-defense,
when
left
solely
to
the
judgment
of
each
state,
contains
the
most
active
virus
of
World
War
III.&dquo;
On
the
other
hand,
he
rejects
the
proposal
of
the
American
Association
for
the
United
Nations
for
closing
&dquo;the
gap
between
the
paralyzed
system
1
See
F.
B.
Schick,
"Peace
on
Trial -
A
Study
of
Defense
in
International
Organization,"
this
Quarterly,
Vol.
II
(March,
1949),
pp.
1-44.
2
Art.
3
of
the
Inter-American
Treaty
of
Reciprocal
Assistance;
Art. 4
of
the
Brussels
Pact;
Art.
5
of
the
North
Atlantic
Treaty.
3
"...
the
Article
(Art.
51)
provides
the
opportunity
for
Members
of
the
United
Nations
to
act
together
in
self-defense"
(Goodrich
and
Hambro,
Charter
of
the
United
Nations,
Boston,
1946,
p.
179).
Since
the
comment
above
was
written
also
the
following
view
has
been
expressed:
"Article
51
speaks ..
of
armed
attack
’against
a
Member
of
the
United
Nations’;
assistance
by
Italy
and
Portugal,
both
non-Members,
would
be
covered
by
this
article,
but
help
to
them
would
fall
outside
of
its
provisions."
(Marina
Salvin,
"The
North
Atlantic
Pact,"
International
Conciliation,
No.
451,
May
1949,
note
65.)
Recently
Senator
Tom
Conally
argued
during
the
Senate
debate
on
the
North
Atlantic
Treaty
that
Italy’s
and
Portugal’s
admission
as
signatories
of
the
Pact
did
not
contravene
Art.
51
of the
Charter,
since
also
non-Members
of the
United
Nations
have
the
inherent
right
of
individual
and
collective
self-defense.
However,
it
does
not
follow
from
any
such
"inherent"
right
of
non-
Members
that
Members
of the
United
Nations
may
associate
themselves
with
non-Members
in
measures
of
collective
self-defense
contrary
to
the
explicit
wording
of
Art.
51.
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