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[p4]
The Vice-President of the International Court of Justice, Acting President
in this case,
having regard to Articles 40 and 48 of the Statute of the Court,
having regard to Articles 32 and 37 of the Rules of Court;
Whereas by a letter dated December 5th, 1951, filed in the Registry of the
Court on December 6th, 1951, the British Ambassador to the Netherlands
transmitted to the Registry of the Court a certified true copy of a Special
Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland and the Government of the French Republic, signed in London
on December 29th, 1950, by which the Court is requested to determine whether
the sovereignty over the islets and rocks (in so far as they are capable of
appropriation) of the Minquiers and Ecrehos groups respectively belongs to
the United Kingdom or the French Republic ;
Whereas the said Special Agreement, which came into force on September 24th,
1951, by instruments of ratification exchanged at Paris, provides that it
may be notified to the Court under Article 40 of the Statute of the Court by
either of the Contracting Parties ;
Whereas, by his, said letter of December 5th, 1951, the British Ambassador
to the Netherlands informed the Registry of the Court that Mr. R. S. B.
Best, Third Legal Adviser to the Foreign Office, had been appointed as Agent
for the Government of the United Kingdom ;[p5]
Whereas, by letter dated December 7th, 1951, the Government of the French
Republic was duly notified of the filing of the Special Agreement in the
Registry ;
Whereas, by a letter dated January 2nd, 1952, the French Ambassador to the
Netherlands notified the Court of the appointment of Professor André Gros as
Agent for the Government of the French Republic ;
Whereas Article II of the Special Agreement recites the agreement of the
Parties that, without prejudice to any question as to the burden of proof,
the written proceedings should consist of
(1) a United Kingdom Memorial to be submitted within three months of the
notification of the Special Agreement ;
(2) a French Counter-Memorial to be submitted within three months of
delivery of the United Kingdom Memorial;
(3) a United Kingdom Reply followed by a French Rejoinder to be delivered
within such times as the Court may order ;
Whereas the Parties, having been consulted in accordance with Article 37 of
the Rules of Court, maintained the above proposals ;
Whereas there is no objection to the adoption of the proposals thus
submitted by the Parties;
Fixes as the date for the expiry of the time-limit for the filing of the
Memorial by the Government of the United Kingdom: March 6th, 1952 ; and for
the filing of the Counter-Memorial by the Government of the French Republic
: June 6th, 1952 ;
And reserves the rest of the procedure for further decision.
Done in French and English, the French text being authoritative, at the
Peace Palace, The Hague, this fifteenth day of January, one thousand nine
hundred and fifty-two, in three copies, one of which will be placed in the
archives of the Court and the others transmitted to the Government of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and to the Government
of the French Republic, respectively.
(Signed) J. G. Guerrero,
Vice-President.
(Signed) E. Hambro,
Registrar. |
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