The Gazette 1972

inent, the British Government and the Irish Free State transferred certain powers connected with the defunct Council of Ireland to the Government and Parliament of Northern Ireland. The Agreement of 1921, including Article 12, remains in force and is included in the Index to British Treaties (HMSO). Has the 1921 Agreement the status of an international treaty? This question has caused controversy before. Anglo-Irish Treaty registered with League of Nations In 1923 the Irish Government registered the Treaty of 1921 with the League of Nations. The U.K. at once protested, arguing that the Agreement was not regis- terable as an international treaty. The Irish Government maintained it was and in the opinion of some international lawyers, the International Court would have preferred the arguments of the Irish. Despite its initial protest, the British Government's view of the Treaty had clearly changed by the following decade. During debates on moves by the Free State to abandon the Oath of Allegiance contained in the Treaty, the binding and international character of the 1921 Agreement was emphasised. In May 1933, in the House of Lords, Viscount Hail- sham, father of the present British Lord Chancellor, described the Treaty as a bargain between his country and the Irish Free State. Neither country party to the bargain can, by unilateral action, alter the terms of the bargain and it, therefore, follows that even if one party or the other purports to alter the bargain, that attempt has no legal or no international effect at all. The clearest recognition that the Treaty had inter- national effect is contained in Viscount Hailsham's answer to his own query : "But what is the effect in international law on the Treaty which is the arrange- ment, the bargain made between the Irish Free State and this country? "I have no hesitation in saying that a Treaty between

two nations—I do not care what exact descriptions you give them, whether dominions, foreign nations, subordinate states, or whatever they may be—an agree- ment between two different entities of that character cannot be altered without the consent of both and any attempt by one to make an alteration is inoperative, unless agreed by .the other." Irish Government should protest What steps might the Irish Government now take, forty years later, in the light of the breach of the Treaty by Britain ? Clearly it has cause for protest. At a time when the Stormont Parliament is being boy- cotted by the minority's representatives, who are calling for a suspension, the U.K. Government has chosen to strengthen that Parliament without consultation or agreement with the Irish Government. By virtue of the Northern Ireland Act, 1972, the British Government and Parliament has passed over to Stormont, power relating to the military, which the original British participants in the Treaty flatly refused to the Unionists, and rightly considered as their most fundamental reserved matters. The Irish Republic is clearly free to protest through diplomatic channels at the action of the British Govern- ment. They may also initiate proceedings in the inter- national court at The Hague. However, since the Irish Government has not accep- ted the compulsory jurisdiction of the World Court, the U.K. could stop proceedings. If the U.K. did not object to the course of jurisidc- tion, the court could proceed to interpret the Treaty and pronounce on its breach. The Irish Government has since announced that it is bringing forward the breach of the Anglo-Irish Treaty as an additional ground to be determined by the Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Irish Press (5th March 1972)

THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND ASSISTANT EXAMINERS

3rd Law Examination Paper 9. Tax Law. Paper 10. Commercial Law. Paper 11. The Law and Practice in Connection with Wills and the Administration of Estates. Paper 13. Land Law.

Applications are invited from solicitors and barristers for the posts of assistant examiners in the following subjects : 1st Law Examination Paper 1. The Law of Tort. Paper 2. The Law of Contract. Paper 3. The Law of Real Property. 2nd Law Examination Paper 4. Equity. Paper 5. Company Law and Partnership. Paper 6. Conveyancing and Registration of Title. Paper 7. The Practice and Procedure of the Superior Courts (including bankruptcy). Paper 8. Criminal Law and the Law of Evidence.

Further particulars may be obtained from : The Secretary, Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, Solicitors Buildings, Four Courts, Dublin 7. 80