The Geneva Protocol   By: David Hunter Miller (1875-1961)

by

DAVID HUNTER MILLER

New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1925

All Rights Reserved

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

COPYRIGHT, 1925,

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and printed. Published March, 1925.

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FOREWORD

The sources and history of the Protocol of Geneva of course go far back of its date, October 2, 1924. I have not attempted to trace them except in so far as they have a direct bearing on my legal study of the Document itself.

The form of the Protocol of Geneva is certainly not yet finally written; consideration of its legal aspects is perhaps therefore all the more desirable at this time.

The Protocol of Geneva is one chapter in the history of the League of Nations, the history of international relations of our time.

D. H. M.

New York City, December, 1924.

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. THE PROTOCOL OF GENEVA .................................... 1 II. POINTS OF APPROACH ........................................ 3 III. THE COMING INTO FORCE OF THE PROTOCOL ..................... 5 IV. PARTIES TO THE PROTOCOL ................................... 10 V. RELATIONS INTER SE OF THE SIGNATORIES TO THE PROTOCOL ..... 13 VI. INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES .................................... 18 VII. THE STATUS QUO ............................................ 28 VIII. DOMESTIC QUESTIONS ........................................ 46 IX. COVENANTS AGAINST WAR ..................................... 50 X. AGGRESSION ................................................ 54 XI. THE JAPANESE AMENDMENT .................................... 64 XII. SANCTIONS ................................................. 72 XIII. SEPARATE DEFENSIVE AGREEMENTS ............................. 82 XIV. THE PROTOCOL AND ARTICLE TEN OF THE COVENANT .............. 84 XV. THE PROTOCOL AS TO NON SIGNATORIES ........................ 86 XVI. THE DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE ................................ 87 XVII. DEMILITARIZED ZONES ....................................... 101 XVIII. SECURITY AND THE PROTOCOL ................................. 103 XIX. INTERPRETATION OF THE PROTOCOL ............................ 104 XX. THE "AMENDED" COVENANT .................................... 106

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ANNEXES.

A. THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS .......................... 117

B. THE PROTOCOL OF GENEVA ......................................... 132

C. THE REPORT TO THE FIFTH ASSEMBLY ............................... 156

D. RESOLUTIONS .................................................... 210

E. REPORT OF THE BRITISH DELEGATES ................................ 217

F. THE AMERICAN PLAN .............................................. 263

G. THE "AMENDED" COVENANT ......................................... 271

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The Geneva Protocol

CHAPTER I.

THE PROTOCOL OF GENEVA.

The Covenant of the League of Nations[1] lays down the principle that national armaments should be reduced to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations.

Thus, in the Covenant, the problem of disarmament[2] and the problem of security are viewed as correlative problems. Their study has gone on in the League of Nations since its organization. During this same period there has been widespread and increasing public interest in the matter.

The theory of the Treaties of Peace was that the disarmament of Germany and her allies was preliminary to a general reduction of armaments the world over.[3] Except as the result of the Washington Conference, and by that to only a very limited extent, there has been almost no reduction or limitation of armaments by {2} international agreement since the war.[4] Such lessening of armaments as has taken place has been by voluntary national action.