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[p11]
The International Court of Justice,
having regard to Article 48 of the Statute,
having regard to Article 37 of the Rules of Court,
Makes the following Order:
Whereas, by a letter dated April 9th, 1951, filed in the Registry of the
Court on the same day, the Minister of Greece at The Hague deposited in the
Registry of the Court an Application bearing the same date, instituting
proceedings against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland;
Whereas, by this Application, the Court is requested, having first declared
that it has jurisdiction:
to adjudge and' declare:
1. That the arbitral procedure referred to in the Final Protocol of the
Greco-Britannic Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 1886 must receive
application in the present case;
2. That the Commission of Arbitration provided for in the said Protocol
shall be constituted within a reasonable period, to be fixed by the Court;
Whereas the Application states further that the Hellenic Government
reserves its right, in case His Britannic Majesty's Government should have
failed to designate its arbitrator, or arbitrators, within the time-limit
fixed by the Court, to seize the Court of the merits of the dispute; [p12]
Whereas the Application, which is signed by M. Nicolas G. Lely, Minister of
Greece at The Hague, Agent of the Hellenic Government, invokes the combined
provisions of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Greece and Great
Britain, dated November 10th, 1886, of the Final Declaration of the
Greco-Britannic Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of July 16th, 1926, and
also of Article 29 of the latter treaty, whence it would follow "that the
Permanent Court of International Justice has jurisdiction in the case, and
that it has been duly seized by means of an Application", His Britannic
Majesty's Government having, according to the said Application, declined the
repeated proposals of the Hellenic Government to submit the present dispute
to the arbitral procedure provided by the Final Protocol of the Treaty of
1886;
Whereas the Application states that the means for a direct and amicable
settlement have been exhausted in this case, and that the dispute now turns
on the interpretation and application of the Treaty of 1886, in particular
of Article 15, paragraph 3;
Whereas the Application thus specifies the provisions on which the applicant
founds the jurisdiction of the Court;
Whereas the Application also states the precise nature of the claim and
gives a succinct statement of the facts and grounds on which the claim is
based;
Whereas, therefore, the Application fulfils the formal conditions laid down
by the Rules of Court;
Whereas, on April 9th, 1951, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland was duly informed by telegram of the filing of
the Application, of which a certified true copy was despatched to it on the
same day and whereas receipt of the said true copy was acknowledged by a
letter, dated April nth, 1951, and signed by Sir Eric Beckett, Legal Adviser
to the Foreign Office;
Whereas, in a letter dated May 7th, 1951, the British Ambassador at The
Hague notified the Court that it was the intention of his Government to
contest the grounds on which it is contended in the Application of the
Hellenic Government that the Court has jurisdiction in the case;
Whereas, in the same letter, the British Ambassador notified the Court that
his Government had appointed as Agent Mr. Vincent Evans, an Assistant Legal
Adviser of the Foreign Office:
The President having ascertained the views of the Parties upon questions of
procedure, the Court fixes as follows the time-limits for the filing by the
Parties of the pleadings: [p13]
for the Memorial of the Hellenic Government: July 30th, 1951; for the
Counter-Memorial of the United Kingdom Government:
October 15th, 1951. And reserves the rest of the procedure for further
decision.
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative, at the
Peace Palace, The Hague, this eighteenth day of May, one thousand nine
hundred and fifty-one, in three copies, one of which will be placed in the
archives of the Court and the others transmitted to the Hellenic Government
and to the Government of the United Kingdom respectively.
(Signed) Basdevant,
President.
(Signed) E. Hambro,
Registrar. |
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