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29 Brit. Y.B. Int'l L. 186 (1952)
Validity of Non-Resigered Treaties

handle is hein.journals/byrint29 and id is 192 raw text is: THE VALIDITY OF NON-REGISTERED
TREATIES
By MICHAEL BRANDON
Of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law;
Legal Department, United Nations Secretariat'
THE principle of registration of treatiesz accepted in Article 18 of the
Covenant of the League of Nations has been carried forward by Article
102 of the Charter of the United Nations which reads as follows:
'i. Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of
the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible
be registered with the Secretariat and published by it.
'2. No party to any such treaty or international agreement which has not been
registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph i of this Article may invoke
that treaty or agreement before any organ of the United Nations.'
Little attention has been paid to the sanction provided in paragraph 2 of
this Article concerning the non-registration of treaties which come within
the scope of paragraph i, and it is proposed therefore to inquire here into
the effect of that sanction upon the validity under international law of
treaties which have not been registered. In order to determine what
experience can be gained from the precedent afforded in Article i8 of
the Covenant,' it is convenient to refer to the corresponding sanction
contained in that Article, which reads as follows:
'Every Treaty or International Engagement entered into hereafter by any Member of
the League shall be forthwith registered with the Secretariat and shall as soon as
possible be published by it. No such Treaty or International Engagement shall be
binding until so registered.'
I. The sanction contained in Article 18 of the Covenant
During the existence of the League of Nations a considerable literature
was devoted to the task of analysing and elucidating the phrase 'no such
Treaty or International Engagement shall be binding until so registered'.4
' The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author.
2 The term 'treaty' has been used throughout this study to include every type of treaty, inter-
national agreement, engagement or instrument, written or otherwise, whatever its form and
descriptive name.
I Reference will not be made, however, to the system of registration of treaties adopted by the
Organization of American States, on which see Hudson in American Journal of International Law,
38 (1944), pp. 98-99.
4 See Lambiris, 'L'enregistrement des traitds d'apr~s Particle x8 du Pacte de la Socidt6 des
Nations', in Revue de droit international et de ldgislation comparde, 7 (3rd ser., !9z6), pp. 697-709,
at p. 705.

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