The General Act for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes is a multilateral convention concluded in Geneva on September 26, 1928. It went into effect on August 16, 1929 and was registered in '' League of Nations Treaty Series'' on the same day. The treaty was ultimately ratified by 22 states. It was subsequently denounced by Spain.

Terms of the act

The act provided frameworks for resolving international disputes by means of either establishing a

conciliation Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process whereby the parties to a dispute use a conciliator, who meets with the parties both separately and together in an attempt to resolve their differences. They do this by lowering te ...

commission (articles 1-16), establishing an

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

tribunal (art. 21-28), or deferring failed disputes to the

Permanent Court of International Justice The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, existed from 1922 to 1946. It was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1920 (although the idea of an international court was several cen ...

(art. 17-20), thus combining three different 'model convention' proposals from the League's Commission of Arbitration and Security - set up by the League's Preparation Commission in 1927 - into one unified act.

Steiner, Zara Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the ...

, The Lights that Failed, European International History 1919-1933, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 572-574 The General Act reflected divisions within the League over how to achieve the collective security envisioned by Articles 11 and 16 of the League of Nations Covenant, e.g.

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He led the team t ...

championed the use of compulsory arbitration, while the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

refused the idea of compulsory deferment of even a limited range of disputes to the Permanent Court. The result was a treaty which did not contain the automatic mechanisms of the failed 1924 Geneva Protocol, and which was considered an unambitious substitute in comparison.

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

produced an additional suggestion that nations should provide financial assistance to attacked nations, while

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

suggested that nations pledge themselves to adopting any resolution by the League Council, that the Council considered would reduce the risk of war. The Finnish and German proposals - although supported unanimously in the League's Assembly - were not incorporated into the General Act but deferred for later consideration by the League Council.

Further developments

Following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the United Nations sought to replace the 1928 document with a more up to date one. As a result, it was replaced in 1949 by a revised act drafted by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Organization and then by the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes. It also served as the basis for the

European Convention for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

, concluded in 1957.Text of the European Convention for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes
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Notes

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External links

Text of the 1928 Act

Table of accessions to the act

Text of the revised 1949 Act

Anne Peters, ''International Dispute Settlement: A Network of Cooperational Duties''
Treaties concluded in 1928 Treaties entered into force in 1929 Interwar-period treaties Treaties of Belgium Treaties of the United Kingdom Treaties of Canada Treaties of Australia Treaties of New Zealand Treaties of the Irish Free State Treaties of British India Treaties of Denmark Treaties of Estonia Treaties of the Ethiopian Empire Treaties of Finland Treaties of the French Third Republic Treaties of the Kingdom of Greece Treaties of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946) Treaties of Latvia Treaties of Luxembourg Treaties of Norway Treaties of Peru Treaties of Switzerland Treaties of Turkey Treaties of the Netherlands

Terms of the act

Further developments

See also

Notes

External links