constitute the first Commission of Experts. In case of a tie the Governing Board shall decide it by lot. It is understood, however, that the Commission of Experts, however chosen or elected, must always contain at least one person representing each of the two great systems of jurisprudence of this hemisphere.

"If the name of no such person is found among the first seven persons having the highest number of votes, then that person having the highest number of votes of any person listed by the government or governments having the particular system of jurisprudence not represented among those having the seven highest votes, shall be made a member of the commission in the place of that particular person of the seven who had the least number of votes.

"4. The persons elected pursuant to the foregoing provisions shall hold office until the end of the first session of the International Commission of Jurisconsults.

"The International Commission of Jurisconsults shall at its first meeting determine the organization, functions, duties, and terms of office of the Commission of Experts and of its members. Until such determination is made the Commission shall have such organization, functions, and duties as are hereinafter provided.

"This Commission of Experts shall be a subcommittee of the International Commission of Jurisconsults. The members of this subcommittee shall be ex officio members of the International Commission of Jurisconsults. "When that International Commission is in session, the members of the subcommittee shall be considered as members thereof and of the delegation named by the country of which they are nationals.

"5. There shall be created in the Pan American Union a general secretariat charged with the files and correspondence of the codifying bodies. With this in view the Pan American Union will establish a juridical section of a purely administrative character.

"6. Both the Commission of Experts as well as the separate local commissions of codification should take into account, insofar as it may be convenient, the suggestions and projects which other institutions may submit for its consideration.

"7. The first meeting of the Commission of Experts will take place as soon as possible at the Pan American Union in Washington, where there shall have been organized a juridical section referred

to in Article 5.

"The subsequent meetings of the Commission of Experts shall be annual and will take place in the various cities of America which the Commission itself shall determine at the proper time.

"8. The Commission of Experts will proceed to examine all the problems of private and public international law and will make a list of those matters which it considers susceptible of codification. With respect to each point it will draw up a questionnaire which it will submit to the consideration of all the national commissions of codification.

"Each commission will study thoroughly the topics contained in the questionnaire and within a reasonable time will give its views thereon, returning the reply through the respective foreign offices to the juridical section of the Pan American Union.

"This procedure does not prevent an exchange of ideas on one or more topics between the national commissions themselves, it being on the contrary even desirable that this method be adopted.

"9. It shall be the special duty of the juridical section of the Pan American Union to expedite whenever necessary the prompt submission of the views solicited.

"Once the replies and observations have been received from the foreign offices, the division shall notify the Governing Board of the Pan American Union in order that it may arrange a meeting of the commission of Experts which shall be held at the place which may have been decided upon at its previous meeting.

"10. The Commission of Experts so convoked shall undertake a thorough study of the replies and observations received and shall proceed to classify them according to topics or concrete points in two categories:

"1) Those which are susceptible of codification because there is a harmony of opinions which permits the formulation of concrete bases of discussion;

2) Those which do not fulfill these conditions.

"When the classification is made, the Commission of Experts shall coordinate the various points of view and shall form concrete bases of discussion for the International Commission of Jurisconsults. The antecedents thus prepared by the Commission of experts and all the documents transmitted by the governments shall serve as a basis for the work of the International Commission of Jurisconsults. "The Commission of Experts, when it may have prepared a reasonable number of projects or declarations such as to justify a meeting of the International Commission of Jurisconsults, will so notify the Governing Board of the Pan American Union in order that the latter may call that Commission together.

11. The next meeting of the International Commission of Jurisconsults will be held in the city of Rio de Janeiro and the following meetings in the places arranged by the Commission itself.

"12. The members of the International Commission of Jurisconsults shall have the character of plenipotentiary delegates.

13. The organs of codification shall not, in the work of juridical organization, alter the fundamental principles of positive International Law already established by Convention between the American States.

"14. The expenses arising out of the attendance of the delegates or of experts at the meetings provided in the previous articles shall be for the account of the government whose national is concerned."

CONVENTION ON RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF STATES

The Seventh International Conference of American States adopted on December 26, 1933, a convention on rights and duties of states. The delegates of the United States were instructed to sign this convention with reservations.9

'See p. 14.

Persia

MUTUAL GUARANTEES

CONVENTION DEFINING AGGRESSION 10

The American Legation at Teheran reported by a despatch dated November 30, 1933, that the ratification by Persia of the convention defining aggression, signed at London July 3, 1933, was deposited at Moscow on November 16, 1933.

Poland-Rumania-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

By a despatch dated December 4, 1933, the American Embassy at Warsaw transmitted to the Department a copy of Dziennik Ustaw (Journal of Laws) no. 93 of November 29, 1933, which contains a declaration of the Polish Government, dated November 14, 1933, announcing that the instruments of ratification by Poland, Rumania, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the convention defining aggression, signed at London July 3, 1933, were deposited at Moscow on October 16, 1933.

TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP, NONAGGRESSION, JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT, ARBITRATION, AND CONCILIATION BETWEEN TURKEY AND YUGOSLAVIA

The American Ambassador to Turkey transmitted to the Secretary of State with a despatch dated December 12, 1933, a translation of the text of the treaty of friendship, nonaggression, judicial settlement, arbitration, and conciliation between Turkey and Yugoslavia, signed at Belgrade November 27, 1933.

The treaty provides for the submission of disputes to the Permanent Court of International Justice or to a tribunal of arbitration. It likewise provides for the establishment of a permanent commission of conciliation to which disputes may, by common agreement of both parties, be submitted for conciliation, prior to recourse to the Permanent Court of International Justice or to arbitral procedure.

The treaty will enter into force on the exchange of ratifications and remain in effect for five years. If not denounced six months prior to the expiration of the five-year period it will remain in force for another period of five years.

ORGANIZATION

COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

REGISTRATION OF TREATIES BY THE UNITED STATES WITH THE LEAGUE OF

NATIONS

With a view to aiding in making the treaty series compiled by the League of Nations more complete and the text of treaties of the

United States more widely available in foreign countries, the Department of State has arranged for the registration with the Secretariat of the League of Nations of treaties and other international agreements to which the United States becomes a party.

Registration by the United States will be made pursuant to the privilege of voluntary registration accorded countries not members of the League of Nations in a memorandum of the Secretary General approved by the Council of the League on May 19, 1920.

The correspondence between the Acting Legal Adviser of the Secretariat of the League of Nations and the American Consul at Geneva by which the arrangement was made for registration of treaties and Executive agreements of the United States and their publication in the League of Nations Treaty Series is as follows:

DEAR MR. GILBERT:

GENEVA, January 22, 1934.

With reference to my recent conversations with you, I am authorized by the Secretary General to confirm that provision for the registration with the Secretariat, by states not belonging to the League, of international agreements concluded by them is made in paragraph 13 of the memorandum regarding the registration and publication of treaties which was approved by the Council of the League of Nations on May 19, 1920 (see vol. 1, no. 1 of the Treaty Series, pp. 8-13). I annex the text of this paragraph in French and English.

You will observe from the terms of the paragraph that the Council recognized that such registration by a nonmember state would be absolutely voluntary.

It may be of interest for me to mention that, commencing in October 1920, Germany proceeded to register treaties with the Secretariat as contemplated in the paragraph, on the understanding that this did not imply that she considered herself as bound by the provisions of article 18 of the Covenant" (Treaty Series, vol. 2, p. 60). I might also mention that since she ceased to be a member of the League Brazil has continued to register treaties with the Secretariat. In such cases a simple acknowledgment of the request for registration and not a formal certificate of registration is addressed by the Secretariat to the government presenting a treaty for registration in view of the fact that the registration is not legally obligatory.

Should, therefore, the United States decide to adopt the practice of registering international agreements concluded by it with the Secretariat the position would be as follows:

(a) Such registration would not involve acquiescence by the United States in the stipulation of article no. 18 of the Covenant that no instrument shall be binding until registration.

"Art. 18 of the Covenant reads as follows: "Every treaty or international engagement entered into hereafter by any member of the League shall be forthwith registered with the Secretariat and shall as seen as possible be published by it. No such treaty or international engagement shall be binding until so registered."

(b) Such registration would result in publication of treaties and Executive agreements between the United States and members of the League and likewise those between the United States and other states not members of the League in the League of Nations Treaty Series in the same category and with the same promptitude as treaties registered by the member states.

(c) Such registration would result in the elimination of the delay in the publication of instruments which may hitherto have been caused by the suspension of publication of treaties sent to the Secretariat by the United States until appropriate notification had been made to the interested member states.

If the United States requested registration of a treaty, such registration would be effected at once and the treaty be published in the same manner as though it had been presented by a member state. Since registered treaties are published in the order of registration, the exact date at which a treaty appears in the Treaty Series necessarily depends on the progress made in producing the series.

(d) Such registration would not involve an obligation on the part of the United States to pay any charges or expenses.

I should perhaps add that under the memorandum approved by the Council the instruments which the Secretariat registers comprise "not only every formal treaty of whatsoever character and every international convention but also any other international engagement or act by which nations or their governments intend to establish legal obligations between themselves and another state, nation or government.

I am, dear Mr. Gilbert, yours very sincerely,

H. MCKINNON WOOD, Acting Legal Adviser of the Secretariat

[Enclosure]

Paragraph 13 of memorandum approved by the Council of the League of Nations, Rome, May 19, 1920

13. In connection with this last point [registration of treaties or engagements entered into by members of the League with nonmember states], it has been suggested that the system of Registration of Treaties by the Secretariat of the League of Nations should from the beginning be so extended as to admit of the registration of Treaties, etc., made by and between States or Communities that have not yet been admitted as Members of the League of Nations. This would serve to complete the Registration of Treaties and the public collection of Treaties which will be formed by the Treaty Part of the League of Nations Journal. The Secretary-General therefore proposes, although the Registration will be for this part absolutely voluntary, to accept applications for the Registration of Treaties, etc., even if none of the Parties is at the time a Member of the League of Nations.