Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 57.djvu/92

82 up stating the object of the litigation and the powers of the arbitrators. This agreement implies the engagement of the parties to submit in good faith to the sentence.

—For the purpose of promoting the development of arbitration certain simple rules are formulated. The powers will appoint special agents, who shall be intermediaries between them and the tribunal; they will also appoint counsel. The proceedings consist first of instruction—communications by the agents and counsel to the tribunal and the opposing party, of the pleadings, etc.; and, secondly, of argument—the oral development of the pleadings. The argument being closed, the bench shall deliberate in secret, and a decision is to be reached by a majority vote. The decision shall be written, and is to contain the reasons of law and fact upon which it is based. In case of disagreement, the dissenting opinion shall also be written and contain the reasons therefor; the signature of each member is to be added to his opinion. Subsequently the decision is to be read in open session, in the presence of the agents and counsel of the parties.

To sum up: it contains all the essentials; it is immediately available, provided with a permanent office, with officials, with a code of procedure, with directions for the commencement of proceedings, the presentation of cases, the taking of evidence by an International Commission of Inquiry, the oral explanation and argument of the printed case, the pronouncement of sentence in open court, the recording of such decision, the subsequent rectification of an error therein on the discovery of new and important facts of a decisive character, and the preservation of the records.

—With these essentials there is a basis for a future evolution until the court shall have become a.s perfect in its organization and details as the High Courts of Justice in England or the Supreme Court of the United States.

It may not be amiss here to suggest the influence which the permanent tribunal is calculated to exercise in the future development of international law. The provision for a permanent bureau or record office, in which the archives shall be kept, is sure to prove a valuable condition for future growth, for the deposit in such bureau of all arbitral decisions will mark the true beginning of what we may call "International Law Reports." To this bureau the powers undertake to send certified copies of all special