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[P .276]
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 7 July 1959 the Ambassador of the United States of America to the
Netherlands filed in the Registry an Application dated 8 June 1959 and
signed by the Agent for the Government of [p 277] the United States of
America instituting proceedings before the Court against the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics "on account of the destruction on November 7, 1954, of a
United States Air Force B-29 aircraft in the Japanese territorial air space
over Hokkaido, Japan";
Whereas the Application was duly communicated by the Registry on 7 July 1959
to the Ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the
Netherlands;
Whereas the Application was also 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 paragraphs:
"The United States Government, filing this application with the Court, has
submitted to the Court's jurisdiction for the purposes of this case. The
Soviet Government appears not to have filed any declaration with the Court
thus far. It was invited to do so by the United States Government as to the
present dispute in the note of June 19, 1958. The Soviet Government has sent
a negative reply thereto. The Soviet Government is, however, qualified to
submit to the Court in this matter and may, upon notification of this
application by the Registrar, in accordance with the Rules of the Court,
take the necessary steps to enable the Court's jurisdiction over both
Parties to the dispute to be confirmed.
The United States Government thus founds the jurisdiction of this Court on
the foregoing considerations and on Article 36 (1) of the Statute."
Whereas in a letter in Russian, dated 31 August 1959, from the Charge
d'affaires of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the Netherlands to
the Registrar, accompanied by an unofficial English translation, it was
stated that:
"The Government of the USSR in its note of March 4 1959 to the Government of
the USA on this question as in its previous notes of November 7 and December
11 1954 and of August 19, 1957, pointed out that the violation of the Soviet
State border by the American plane which was the first to fire the Soviet
fighter-planes is an indisputable fact and that the responsibility for the
incident is completely on the American side.
In the same note of March 4, 1959, the Government of the USSR, in response
to the proposal of the Government of the USA to refer this case to the
International Court of Justice stated that they did not see bases for it.
The Soviet Government draws your attention to the fact that they repeatedly
protested against violations by American planes of the USSR state borders
situated many thousand kilometers [p 278] away from the American territory
and warned that all the responsibility for such violations and their
consequences would be completely on the American side. But the American
side ignored this kind of warnings and did not prohibit their military
air-forces to direct planes towards the state borders of the USSR and
violate these borders.
In connection with the heretofore stated the Government of the USSR
considers as before that in this case there are no questions which are in
need to be solved by the International Court of Justice and do not see bases
for the filing of this case with the Court."
Whereas a true copy of the above-mentioned letter was communicated to the
Agent for the Government of the United States of America on 3 September
1959;
Whereas, in these circumstances, the Court finds that it has not before it
any acceptance by the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
of the jurisdiction of the Court to deal with the dispute which is the
subject of the Application submitted to it by the Government of the United
States of America and that therefore it can take no further steps upon this
Application;
The Court
orders that the case be removed from the list.
Done in English and in French, the English text being authoritative, at the
Peace Palace, The Hague, this seventh day of October, one thousand nine
hundred and fifty-nine, 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 States of America and to the Government of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, respectively.
(Signed) Helge Klaestad,
President.
(Signed) Garnier-Coignet,
Deputy-Registrar. |
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