About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

25 Brit. Y.B. Int'l L. 1 (1948)
The Binding Force of a Recommendation of the General Assembly of the United Nations

handle is hein.journals/byrint25 and id is 7 raw text is: THE BINDING FORCE OF A 'RECOMMENDATION' OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS' By F. BLAINE SLOAN, LL.B., LL.M. Of the Nebraska and New York Bar; Legal Department, United Nations Secretariat THE General Assembly is established by the Charter as the great delibera- tive organ of the United Nations. It may discuss and make recommenda- tions concerning any matter which affects the peace of the world or the general welfare of nations. It has been characterized as an international forum, as the 'town meeting of the world'. But the General Assembly was not constituted a world legislature, and its resolutions are not in and of themselves law in the same sense as are enactments of national parliaments. This statement, however, is by no means the equivalent of a negative answer to the question whether a resolution of the General Assembly possesses binding force. The problem of the effect of a General Assembly resolution containing a recommendation to a Member state offers a fertile field for investigation by scholars and experimentation by international statesmen.2 While the term 'resolution' is applied to all determinations of the General Assembly, the major problem of binding force concerns the obligatory effect of the resolutions containing recommendations to the Member states under Articles io to 14 of the Charter. The experience of the United Nations during its first years has con- tributed little to the determination of the exact status of a resolution of the General Assembly. The opinions officially expressed vary from the sugges- tion that certain resolutions are not only legally binding but may be en- forced, to the opposite position that no resolution can create either a legal or a moral obligation. Between these extremes may be found numerous statements attributing to a resolution varying degrees of persuasive or moral force, but adding little to the clarification of the problem. It is not surprising that there has been no satisfactory and universally accepted formulation of the legal effect of a resolution of an international conference. For much the same disagreement exists in certain quarters in regard to the legal status of international law in its traditional and positive forms. There are lawyers who deny that international law can properly be considered more than international morality. While the arguments support- The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not to be identified with those of any organization or group with which he may be associated. 2 Sayre, 'Legal Problems arising from the United Nations Trusteeship System', in A.J. 42 (1948), p. 273, writes: 'Does the affirmative vote of the General Assembly embodying a recom- mendation create a definite obligation, legal or otherwise, and, if so, of exactly what character is the obligation? This is a problem of enormous consequence, as yet unsolved.' See also Kunz, 'The BogotA Charter of the Organization of American States', in ibid., pp. 575, 588; Fenwick, International Law (1948), p. 79; U.N. Docs. A/AC.19/33 (to February 1948), p. 4; A/C.3/SR. io8 (22 October 1948), p. 8.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most