In an article published in this Journal in 1962, entitled “Some Trends in the Political and Legal Thinking on the Conquest of Space”, the present writer endeavoured to examine whether in the statements and attitudes of statesmen and in the ideas and suggestions of international lawyers, the emergence of certain trends towards the ends and purposes of space exploration and the creation of some order in this new field of human activity, could be detected.

1. A little over twelve years ago the Kingdom of the Netherlands ratified the European Convention of Human Rights and its First Additional Protocol. This study constitutes an inquiry into the application in the Netherlands of the rights guaranteed by the Convention and the Protocol, the influence they have exercised on the State organs that create or apply the law and their impact on the Dutch legal order in general. Such a study is the more called for, since the self-executing provisions of the Convention and Protocol, after publication, are directly applicable in the municipal legal order of the Netherlands, without any transformation or incorporation into national law being necessary. Moreover, these provisions take precedence over any contrary provisions of municipal law, whether enacted before or after the coming into force of the Convention. It can thus be said that the Dutch legal system— which will be explained hereafter in greater detail—perhaps more than that of any other Party to the Convention allows those falling within its ambit to profit from the rights and freedoms which the Convention extends. It will be interesting to note to what extent actual practice in the Netherlands with regard to the Convention conforms to this theory. A survey of Dutch practice would moreover also allow of comparisons with that in other States parties to the Convention.

I. Reciprocity (réciprocité, Gegenseitigkeit, in Russian: vzaimnost) is important in the field of private international law and international civil procedure in the following connections: 1. when the law to be applied is decided, 2. when legal protection is to be secured to aliens, 3. when the recognition of the legal effects of foreign procedure, especially the recognition and execution of foreign judicial decisions is under discussion, 4. when the application of certain directly regulating rules of procedure [exemption from security in connection with the costs of procedure, freedom of expenses, regulation of judicial assistance] is the question at issue.

1. Le projet de Convention sur la reconnaissance et l'exécution des jugements étrangers en matière civile et commerciale qui figure dans l'Acte final de la Session extraordinaire de la Conférence de la Haye de droit international privé du 26 avril 1966 est le résultat de travaux entrepris par la Conférence sur l'initiative du Conseil de l'Europe. Des discussions préliminaires eurent lieu lors de la Neuvième session de 1960. En 1962 et 1963 une Commission spéciale élabora un avant-projet de convention qui fut publié dans cette Revue. La Dixième session de la Conférence, en 1964, se saisit de cet avantprojet mais son programme était si chargé qu'elle ne put achever les travaux en cette matière, seuls six articles furent adoptés en première lecture et publiés dans l'Acte final de la Dixième session. Une Session extraordinaire, la première dans l'histoire de la Conférence, fut convoquée du 13 au 26 avril 1966 pour mettre définitivement au point le projet de convention que nous allons maintenant étudier.

Toen in September 1939 de oorlog uitbrak, waren van de oorlogvoerende mogendheden er drie (Duitsland, Polen en Frankrijk) bij de Internationale Verdragen betreffende het goederenvervoer per spoorweg (C.I.M.) en het vervoer van reizigers en bagage per spoorweg (C.I.V.) aangesloten. Welke gevolgen had de oorlogstoestand voor de geldigheid van deze Verdragen?

The purpose of this chapter is to examine in what way evidence conflicts are actually solved in the United States and in the Netherlands and to see whether application of the harmony-concern-reliance test leads to more satisfactory results. Each of the following sections commences with a discussion of Dutch law, then turns to American law, and concludes by suggesting in a “resolution” what seems the best solution. In Chapter V these resolutions will be comprised to a set of rules.

The author discusses the Resolution adopted by the 28th Commission of the Institute of International Law in its session of 1965 (Warschau) with regard to corporations in private international law (rapporteur Prof. G. van Hecke).

A questionnaire had preceded the Resolution from which questionnaire the questions No.'s 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 18, 23, 25 and 26 have been cited in French at the beginning of this study. For its contents one is referred to the text of this study. The quotations are in small print and therefore easy to find for the non Dutch speaking reader.

With regard to the answers that have arrived, the rapporteur makes the following remarks in his provisional report of January 7th, 1965:

a. The answers to question 6 were unanimous: the recognition of foreign corporations is not a separate problem, but the result of a valid incorporation according to the system of law that governs the corporation according to the rules of private international law (lex societatis, loi de la société). This is a matter of theory though.

b. With regard to the answers to questions No.'s 7, 8 and 9 the rapporteur mentions that the entire Commission was of the opinion that the law of incorporation and of the “siège statutaire” (seat according to the charter provisions) in principle always has to be regarded as the “lex societatis” (law governing the corporation); that the Commission was also in agreement about the suggestion that in certain instances one has to depart from this line of thinking and apply the law of the “siège réel” (main place of business) as “lex societatis”; that however there existed different opinions about the question whether the law of the siège réel should be applied as soon as the siège réel is outside the country of incorporation, or only if the siège réel is elsewhere and there also does not exist a “lien effectif” (substantial connection) with the country of incorporation. The questions No.'s 7, 8 and 9 are concerned with the rule of private international law, which determines the lex societatis, that is with the choice between the system of incorporation, the system of the main place of business (siège réel) or a combination of the two. The author refers to the articles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Resolution (see appendix to study) for the contents of the system that was chosen eventually.

c. With regard to the answers to the questions No.'s 12 and following the rapporteur joins Prof. W. Wengler in his opinion that the old controversy between the law of incorporation and the law of the siège réel is less important these days than the problem of the relation between the lex societatis and the law of the countries where the corporation operates without either having been incorporated there or having its siège réel there. The pertinent questions deal with the defining of the sphere of operation of the lex societatis with regard to the operation of the law systems of the countries, where the corporation penetrates with its economic activities. The position is that the more the corporation penetrates, the more the compulsory law of such countries should be applied. The articles No.'s 7 and following of the Resolution of Warschau deal with these spheres of operation (see appendix). In order to define these spheres of operation the rapporteur starts from three degrees of penetration in the economy of a given country by a foreign corporation. The second French quotation of the study deals with these three degrees.

The purpose of this paper is the comparative study of the jurisdictional functions performed by attachment and garnishment under Belgian and American law. In other words, an attempt will be made to ascertain how and to what extent Belgian and American courts may adjudicate upon claims involving foreigners whose assets are found within their respective jurisdictions.

This article is based on the contents of lectures on Polish international private law delivered by the author at the University of Leiden in 1964 and at the Universities of Groningen and Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit) in 1965.

Toen ik, nu al weer heel veel jaren geleden, mijn oratie te Rotterdam hield, meende ik te kunnen vaststellen: “Het vaderland van een Grotius en een Bijnkershoek heeft in de 19e eeuw geen enkele volkenrechtsschrijver van betekenis meer aan te wijzen. Het in het Engels geschreven en op Engelse leest geschoeide “Manual of International Law” van onze toenmalige gezant in China, Jan Helenus Ferguson, is het enige algemeen volkenrechtelijk werk uit die tijd.” Het speurwerk, dai de verdienstelijke vroegere archivaris van het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Mej. Jurriaanse, bij het onderzoek naar het ontstaan van de Commissie voor de Di-plomatieke examens verrichtte, bracht haar op het spoor van een volkenrechtsboek uit 1837, dat mij onbekend was (ook van Eysinga vermeldt het niet in zijn “Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse wetenschap van het volkenrecht). Het betrof een in dat jaar versehenen werk van de Leidse hoogleraar Mr. Hendrik Cock. De volledige titel luidt: “Natuur- Staats- en Volkenregt, als Handboek voor Hunne Koninklijke Hoogheden Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk, Erfprins van Oranje en Willem Alexander Frederik Constantijn Nicolaas Michaël, Prins der Neder-landen”. Het is als Handschrift gedrukt en, naar in de tot de beide Prinsen gerichte voorrede (met de merkwaardige aanhef: “Koninklijke Vorsten en Heeren”) wordt medegedeeld, “geenszins tot openbare uitgave bestemd, maar eeniglijk als handschrift gedrukt om aan de leden van het Koninklijk Huis en in het bijzonder Uwe Koninklijke Hoogheden (wier leermeester Prof. Cock was geweest) te worden aangeboden”. De Bibliotheek van het Vredespaleis bezit er een. biizonder fraai gebonden, exemplaar van.

When a court hears a case which has foreign elements, it decides on the basis of foreign law in case it considers the contacts with that law sufficiently strong. Such a decision does not automatically include an application of foreign rules of evidence. Those rules may, however, have just as strong an influence on the rights of the parties as the rules of substantive law.

From time immemorial men have looked upon the limitless, barren Arabian deserts with their diffusion in time and space, their special cadence and gliding, half-seen objects, as they did upon the rolling, blending, inscrutable oceans. Exclusive lordship was meaningless. Yet those vacant areas were not totally free for holding to whoever chose: the fact is that hills and valleys had acknowledged masters asserting rights of tribes, clans and families. Even the scarce wells and sparse plants had owners who permitted the taking of water and firewood according to necessity.