4
Dec. 45
There
remains the question, with which I shall not
detain the Tribunal for long, whether these wars
which were launched by Germany and her leaders
in violation of treaties or agreements or
assurances were also wars of aggression. A war
of aggression is a war which is resorted to in
violation of the international obligation not to
have recourse to war, or, in cases in which war
is not totally renounced, which is resorted to
in disregard of the duty to utilize the
procedure of pacific settlement which a state
has bound itself to observe. There was, as a
matter of fact, in the period between the two
world wars, a divergence of opinion among
jurists and statesmen whether it was preferable
to attempt in advance a legal definition of
aggression, or to leave to the states concerned
and to the collective organs of the
international community freedom of appreciation
of the facts in any particular situation that
might arise. Those holding the latter view
argued that a rigid definition might be abused
by an unscrupulous state to fit in with its
aggressive design; they feared, and the British
Government was for a time among those who took
this view, that an automatic definition of
aggression might become "a trap for the
innocent and a signpost for the guilty."
Others held that in the interest of certainty
and security a definition of aggression, like a
definition of any crime in municipal law, was
proper and useful. They urged that the competent
international organs, political and judicial,
could be trusted to avoid in any particular case
a definition of aggression which might lead to
obstruction or to an absurdity. In May of 1933
the Committee on Security Questions of the
Disarmament Conference proposed a definition of
aggression on these lines:
"The
aggressor in an international conflict
shall, subject to the agreements in
force between the parties to the
dispute, be considered to be that state
which is the first to commit any of the
following actions:
"(1)
Declaration of war upon another state;
"(2) Invasion by its
armed forces, with or without a
declaration of war, of the territory of
another state;
"(3)
Attack by its land, naval, or air
forces, with or without a declaration of
war, on the territory, vessels, or
aircraft of another state;
"(4)
Naval blockade of the coasts or ports of
another state;
"(5)
Provision of support to armed bands
formed in its territory which have
invaded the territory of another state,
or refusal, notwithstanding the request
of the invaded state, to take in its own
territory all the measures in its power
to deprive those bands of all assistance
or protection."
The
various treaties concluded in 1933 by the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics and other states
followed closely that definition.