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[p15]
The International Court of Justice,
composed as above,
after deliberation,
having regard to Articles 36 and 48 of the Statute of the Court,
Makes the following Order:
Whereas, on May 4th, 1955, there was tiled in the Registry an Application by
the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
instituting proceedings before the Court against the Republic of Chile
concerning a dispute relating to the sovereignty over certain islands and
lands in the Antarctic which lie between longitudes 530 and 8o° West and to
the south-wards of latitude 58° South: [p16]
Whereas the Application was duly communicated by the Registry on May 6th,
1955, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chile;
Whereas the Application was also duly communicated by the Registry to the
Members of the United Nations through the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, and to the other States entitled to appear before the Court;
Whereas the Application contains the following:
"40. The United Kingdom Government ... declares that it hereby submits to
the jurisdiction of the Court for the purposes of the case referred to the
Court in the present Application... The Chilean Government has not, so far
as the United Kingdom Government is aware, yet filed any declaration
accepting the Court's jurisdiction either generally under Article 36 (2) of
the Statute or specially in the present case. The Chilean Government, which
has frequently expressed its adherence to the principle of judicial
settlement of international disputes, is, however, legally qualified to
submit to the jurisdiction of the Court in this casé. Consequently, upon
notification of the present Application to the Republic of Chile by the
Registrar in accordance with the Rules of Court, the Chilean Government,
under the settled jurisprudence of the Court, can take the necessary steps
to that end,' and thereby cause the Court's jurisdiction in the case to be
constituted in respect of Parties.
41. The United Kingdom Government founds the jurisdiction of the Court on
the foregoing considerations and on Article 36 (1) of the Court's Statute;
..."
Whereas, in a letter dated July 15th, 1955, addressed to the Registrar, and
handed to him on August 2nd, 1955, the Chilean Minister to the Netherlands,
on the instructions pf his Government, recalled that on various occasions in
the past his Government had "indicated to the Government of the United
Kingdom that recourse to the International Court of Justice cannot be
applicable in the case of the Chilean Antarctic", and after setting forth
the text of a note adressed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Chile to the British Embassy in Santiago on May 4th, 1955, in
which recourse to the Court for the settlement of the controversy was
declined, the Minister concluded:
"My Government consequently will confine itself on this occasion to stating
that the application of the Government of the United Kingdom is unfounded
and that it is not open to the International Court of Justice to exercise
jurisdiction in this case."
Whereas a copy of the above-mentioned letter was communicated to the Agent
for the Government of the United Kingdom on August 3rd, 1955;
Whereas, in a letter dated August 31st, 1955, addressed to the Registrar,
the Agent for the Government of the United Kingdom [p17] stated that it
regarded the letter of July 15th, 1955, from the Chilean Minister to the
Netherlands as amounting to a rejection of the jurisdiction of the
International Court of Justice for the purposes of the present case;
Whereas, in these circumstances, the Court finds that it has not before it
any acceptance by the Government of Chile of the jurisdiction of the Court
to deal with the dispute which is the subject of the Application submitted
to it by the United Kingdom Government and that therefore it can take no
further steps upon this Application;
The Court
orders that the case shall be removed from the list.
Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative, at the
Peace Palace, The Hague, this sixteenth day of March, one thousand nine
hundred and fifty-six, 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 Republic of Chile, respectively.
(Signed) Green H. Hackworth,
President.
(Signed) J. Lopez Olivan,
Registrar. |
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