. ©MAZAL LIBRARY

NMT03-T0980


. NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL
Volume III · Page 980
Previous Page Home PageArchive
 
given period the solution of a particular question is by international law deemed to be solely within the control or jurisdiction of one state, gives frail assurance that it will always be so regarded."¹

"The family of nations is not unconcerned with the life and experience of the private individual in his relationships with the state of which he is a national. Evidence of concern has become increasingly abundant since World War I, and is reflected in treaties through which that conflict was brought to a close, particularly in provisions designed to safeguard the racial, linguistic and religious minorities inhabiting the territories of certain states, and in the terms of part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles, of June 28, 1919, in respect to labour, as well as in article XXIII of that treaty embraced in the Covenant of the League of Nations."²

"The nature and extent of the latitude accorded a state in the treatment of its own nationals has been observed elsewhere. It has been seen that certain forms or degrees of harsh treatment of such individuals may be deemed to attain an international significance because of their direct and adverse effect upon the rights and interests of the outside world. For that reason it would be unscientific to declare at this day that tyrannical conduct, or massacres, or religious persecutions are wholly unrelated to the foreign relations of the territorial sovereign which is guilty of them. If it can be shown that such acts are immediately and necessarily injurious to the nationals of a particular foreign state, grounds for interference by it may be acknowledged. Again, the society of nations, acting collectively, may not unreasonably maintain that a state yielding to such excesses renders itself unfit to perform its international obligations, especially in so far as they pertain to the protection of foreign life and property within its domain.* The property of interference obviously demands in every case a convincing showing that there is in fact a causal connection between the harsh treatment complained of, and the outside state that essays to thwart it.


* "Since the World War of 1914-1918, there has developed in many quarters evidence of what might be called an international interest and concern in relation to what was previously regarded as belonging exclusively to the domestic affairs of the individual state; and with that interest there has been manifest also an increasing readiness to seek and find a connection between domestic abuses and the maintenance of the general peace. See article XI of the Covenant of the League of Nations, United States Treaty, volume III, 3339." (Hyde, "International Law," 2d rev. ed., vol. I, pages 249-250.)
 
__________
¹ Ibid., volume I, pages 7 and 8.
² Ibid., p. 38.

 
 
 
980
Next Page NMT Home Page