At Paris, on October 23, 1954, the United States, the United Kingdom, the French Republic (the “Three Powers”) and the Federal Republic of Germany, as part of the salvage operations following the collapse of the plan for a European Defense Community, signed a Protocol on the Termination of the Occupation Regime in the Federal Republic of Germany. The first article of that Protocol provides that, upon ratification by the four signatories, the so-called Contractual Agreements with the Federal Republic of Germany, originally signed at Bonn on May 26, 1952, shall enter into force—with, however, certain amendments contained in five Schedules to the Protocol.

As Chairman of the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armament, Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes had occasion to observe that “certain of the resolutions … adopted by the Conference are put in treaty form. … In other cases, the resolutions are of a character not requiring such sanction in the form of a treaty, and are deemed to be binding upon the Powers according to their tenor when adopted by the Conference.” Problems of a comparable nature arise with reference to the obligatory force and juridical effect in international law of “decisions,” “agreements” and “arrangements” set forth in the Final Act of the London Conference of 1954 on Germany.

The development of various regional organizations may seem a paradox in the light of the present interdependencies of the world community and its increasing common interests. The growing intensity of this interdependence, so forcibly demonstrated by the concept of collective security, calls for a truly universal organization. A regional organization by itself, however extensive and efficient it may be, could hardly meet and resolve global problems, such as control of atomic energy, and subserve the best interests of the world community as a whole.

The Australian proclamations of September 10, 1953, claiming the continental shelf adjacent to the coasts of the Commonwealth and its Territories are interesting in several respects. They depart as to form from the British practice, and so suggest that the United Kingdom drafts have been found by the advisers to the Australian Government to be inadequate; they attempt for the first time to establish a specific relationship between the shelf and sedentary fisheries; and they raise the novel and yet important question of the competence of an Administering Power to extend the boundaries of a Trust Territory. The proclamations were issued only after careful consideration of previous claims and the academic controversies they have generated, and one may conclude from the text that, since the International Law Commission reported on the subject, the concept of the continental shelf and the character of the rights asserted in respect of it have crystallized, and that a definite pattern has now been set for future development of the law.