The Gazette 1961 - 64

Considerable interest was taken by almost all the delegates, in international cooperation on legal education, and in international unification of laws and particularly in organising lawyers internationally and in international law generally. Among these topics were some of the most successful held at the conference, and while some of the suggestions were for continuing and other education were nothing less than startling, the topic dealing with the inter national organising of lawyers was paramount. This clearly was the key topic. Something may be done if local and national law societies and bar associations are prepared to organise and assist. If they do not do so however then it will be almost impossible to traverse the resulting slough of apathy and indifference. Friday July ^th was given over to a plenary session in considering a lawyers' work programme and a work programme for the future. Emphasis was again placed on the fact that lawyers must be inter nationally organised and that this should be carried out through law societies and local bar associations. After a good deal of discussion the work programme was adopted with some amendments. It is a for midable document and far too long to reproduce in a short report. It is sufficient to say that it ranges over all possible aspects of international law which might arise under the topics discussed and it was passed and referred to the executive committee to decide on the action to be taken in the future. Among the resolutions adopted before the con ference ended was that a world centre be set up to unite the members of the legal profession of the world for the purpose of furthering the objectives of the conference. The centre is to cooperate with existing organisation and to encourage the teaching and study of international law, recommend and assist exchanges of students, scholars, jurists and other leaders of the legal profession and disseminate the results of such international studies and research. It was also agreed, but not at all unanimously, to establish up a "World Law Day" and a "World Rule of Law Year" (the latter to be something on the lines of the International Geophysical Year) a proposal which left a large number of the Europeans aghast. One matter however became more and more clear to the writer as the conference proceeded. It is of prime importance now and for the future that lawyers should have a reasonable grounding in international law. Here in Ireland we are usually last to involve ourselves in things international, removed as we are from continental Europe by two seas. .But we are improving. Air transport and the Com mon Market have shaken us out of our complacency. 44

be an appeal from the regional courts to the inter national court if required. In the afternoon the working sessions dealt with (e) Increasing scope and effectiveness of arbi tration, conciliation and other means of resolving international disputes. (/) Developing law rules and legal institutions for disarmament programmes. Mr Carrigan attended topic (/) and assisted Mr. J. C. White of New Zealand to prepare and propose a resolution asking for a special committee to prepare a draft plan for an organisation to direct and supervise a disarmament agreement. This proposal was accepted unanimously by the delegates at the final plenary sessions. Wednesday July yd— The working sessions for this day were as follows : (1) Creating law for outer space and space communications. (2) The United Nations and regional political organisations as a source of law rules and legal institutions. (3) International co-operation on legal education and research. (4) Encouraging international unification of private law. Topic i (Space) was exceptionally well done. It is fair to say that the majority of delegates attended this working session in complete ignorance. They left it remarkably well briefed and instructed. The panel had previously been called together and it had been decided what each member would say. No speaker duplicated another and furthermore it had been arranged that a scientist would sit on the panel and explain exactly the scientific aspects of this matter before any of the legal aspects were decided, a step which, for the uninitiated, was of prime importance. The remaining topics may be taken together with those of Thursday July tfh : (a) organising lawyers internationally for effective cooperative action and (£) stating the general principles of international law. Discussion was confined to seeking ways and means for international organisations of lawyers to give effect to the objects of this conference and to encourage law schools and law societies to place a greater emphasis on the teaching of international law than they do at present.