The Geneva Protocol, by David Hunter Miller

CHAPTER XX. 108
dependent on the duration of the Protocol must make an express stipulation to this effect. As Article 36
permits acceptance of the engagement in question for a specified term only, a State may, when acceding,
stipulate that it only undertakes to be bound during such time as the Protocol shall remain in force.
5.--STRENGTHENING OF PACIFIC METHODS OF PROCEDURE.
Article 4.
We have, in the second place, succeeded in making possible the pacific settlement of all disputes by
strengthening the procedure laid down in the Covenant.
Article 4, paragraph 1.
Action by the Council with a view to reconciliation.--If a dispute does not come within the compulsory
jurisdiction of the {174} Permanent Court of International Justice and if the Parties have been unable to come
to an agreement to refer it to the Court or to submit it to arbitration, it should, under the terms of Article 15 of
the Covenant, be submitted to the Council, which will endeavour to secure a settlement by reconciling the
parties. If the Council's efforts are successful, it must, so far as it considers it advisable, make public a
statement giving such facts and explanations regarding the dispute and the terms of settlement thereof as it
may deem appropriate.
In this connection no change has been made in the procedure laid down by the Covenant. It appeared
unnecessary to specify what particular procedure should be followed. The Council is given the utmost latitude
in choosing the means most appropriate for the reconciliation of the parties. It may take advice in various
quarters; it may hear expert opinions; it may proceed to investigations or expert enquiries, whether by itself or
through the intermediary of experts chosen by it; it may even, upon application by one of the parties,
constitute a special conciliation committee. The essential point is to secure, if possible, a friendly settlement
of the dispute; the actual methods to be employed are of small importance. It is imperative that nothing should
in any way hamper the Council's work in the interests of peace. It is for the Council to examine the question
whether it would be expedient to draw up for its own use and bring to the notice of the Governments of the
signatory States general regulations of procedure applicable to cases brought before it and designed to test the
good-will of the parties with a view to persuading them more easily to reach a settlement under its auspices.
Experience alone can show whether it will be necessary to develop the rules laid down in the first three
paragraphs of Article 15 of the Covenant.
For the moment it would appear to be expedient to make no addition and to have full confidence in the
wisdom of the Council, it being understood that, whether at the moment in question or at any other stage of
the procedure, it will be open to the {175} parties to come to an agreement for some different method of
settlement: by way of direct understanding, constitution of a special committee of mediators or conciliators,
appeal to arbitration or to the Permanent Court of International Justice.
The new procedure set up by the Protocol will be applicable only in the event of the Council's failing in its
efforts at reconciliation and of the parties failing to come to an understanding in regard to the method of
settlement to be adopted.
In such case, before going further, the Council must call upon the parties to submit their dispute to judicial
settlement or to arbitration.
It is only in the case where this appeal--which the Council will make in the manner which appears to it most
likely to secure a favourable hearing--is not listened to that the procedure will acquire the compulsory
character which is necessary to make certain the final settlement of all disputes. There are three alternatives: