CHAPTER III.— On Arbitral Procedure.

ARTICLE XXX. With a view to encouraging the development of arbitration, the Signatory Powers have agreed on the following rules which shall be applicable to the arbitral procedure, unless the parties have agreed upon different regulations.

ARTICLE XXXI. The Powers which resort to arbitration shall sign a special act (compromis), in which the subject of the difference shall be precisely defined, as well as the extent of the powers of the arbitrators. This act implies an agreement by each party to submit in good faith to the award.

ARTICLE XXXII. The duties of arbitrator may be conferred upon one arbitrator alone or upon several arbitrators selected by the parties, as they please, or chosen by them from the members of the permanent Court of Arbitration established by the present act. Failing the constitution of the Tribunal by direct agreement between the parties, it shall be formed in the following manner:

Each party shall appoint two arbitrators, and these shall together choose an umpire. In case of an equal division of votes the choice of the umpire shall be intrusted to a third Power to be selected by the parties by common accord. If no agreement is arrived at on this point, each party shall select a different Power, and the choice of the umpire shall be made by agreement between the Powers thus selected.

ARTICLE XXXIII. When a Sovereign or Chief of State shall be chosen for an arbitrator, the arbitral procedure shall be determined by him. ARTICLE XXXIV. Tribunal. When the

The umpire shall preside over the Tribunal does not include an umpire, it

shall appoint its own presiding officer.

ARTICLE XXXV. In case of the death, resignation, or absence, for any cause, of one of the arbitrators, the place shall be filled in the manner provided for his appointment.

ARTICLE XXXVI. The parties shall designate the place where the Tribunal is to sit. Failing such a designation, the Tribunal shall sit at The Hague. The place of session thus determined shall not, except in the case of overwhelming necessity, be changed by the Tribunal without the consent of the parties.

ARTICLE XXXVII. The parties shall have the right to

appoint agents or attorneys to represent them before the Tribunal, and to serve as intermediaries between them and it.

They are also authorized to employ for the defence of their rights and interests before the Tribunal counsellors or solicitors named by them for that purpose.

ARTICLE XXXVIII. The Tribunal shall decide upon the choice of languages used by itself or to be authorized for use before it.

ARTICLE XXXIX. As a general rule, the arbitral procedure shall comprise two distinct phases, preliminary examination and discussion. Preliminary examination shall consist in the communication by the respective agents to the members of the Tribunal and to the opposite party, of all printed or written acts, and of all documents containing the arguments to be invoked in the case. This communication shall be made in the form and within the period fixed by the Tribunal, in accordance with Article XLIX.

The discussion shall consist in the oral development before the Tribunal of the argument of the parties.

ARTICLE XL. Every document produced by one party must be communicated to the other party.

ARTICLE XLI. The discussions shall be under the direction of the President. They shall be public only in case it shall be so decided by the Tribunal, with the assent of the parties. They shall be recorded in the official minutes drawn up by the Secretaries appointed by the President. These official minutes alone shall have an authentic character.

ARTICLE XLII. When the preliminary examination is concluded, the Tribunal may refuse admission of all new acts or documents, which one party may desire to submit to it, without the consent of the other party.

ARTICLE XLIII. The Tribunal may take into consideration such new acts or documents to which its attention may be drawn by the agents or counsel of the parties. In this case the Tribunal shall have the right to require the production of these acts or documents, but it is obliged to make them known to the opposite party.

ARTICLE XLIV. The Tribunal may also require from the agents of the party the production of all papers, and may demand all necessary explanations. In case of refusal the

Tribunal shall take note of the fact.

ARTICLE XLV. The agents and counsel of the parties are

authorized to present orally to the Tribunal all the arguments which they may think expedient in support of their cause.

ARTICLE XLVI. They shall have the right to raise objections and to make incidental motions. The decisions of the Tribunal on these points shall be final, and shall not form the subject of any subsequent discussion.

ARTICLE XLVII. The members of the Tribunal shall have the right to put questions to the agents or counsel of the parties and to demand explanations from them on doubtful points. Neither the questions put nor the remarks made by members of the Tribunal during the discussion or argument shall be regarded as an expression of opinion by the Tribunal in general, or by its members in particular.

ARTICLE XLVIII. The Tribunal is authorized to determine its own jurisdiction, by interpreting the agreement of arbitration or other treaties which may be quoted in point, and by the application of the principles of international law.

ARTICLE XLIX. The Tribunal shall have the right to make rules of procedure for the direction of the trial to determine the form and the periods in which parties must conclude the argument, and to prescribe all the formalities regulating the admission of evidence.

ARTICLE L. The agents and the counsel of the parties having presented all the arguments and evidence in support of their case, the President shall declare the hearing closed.

ARTICLE LI. The deliberations of the Tribunal shall take place with closed doors. Every decision shall be made by a majority of the members of the Tribunal. The refusal of any member to vote shall be noted in the official minutes.

ARTICLE LII. The award shall be made by a majority of votes, and shall be accompanied by a statement of the reasons upon which it is based. It must be drawn up in writing and signed by each of the members of the Tribunal. Those members who are in the minority may, in signing, state their dissent.

ARTICLE LIII. The award shall be read in a public sitting of the Tribunal, the agents and counsel of the litigants being present or having been duly summoned.

ARTICLE LIV. The award duly pronounced and notified to the agents of the parties in litigation shall decide the dispute finally and without appeal.

ARTICLE LV. The parties may reserve in the agreement of

arbitration the right to demand a rehearing of the case. In this case, and in the absence of any stipulation to the contrary, the demand shall be addressed to the Tribunal which has pronounced the judgment; but it shall be based only on the discovery of new facts, of such a character as to exercise a decisive influence upon the judgment, and which at the time of the judgment were unknown to the Tribunal itself and to the parties demanding the rehearing. The proceedings for a rehearing can only be begun by a decision of the Tribunal stating expressly the existence of the new fact and recognizing that it possesses the character described in the preceding paragraph, and declaring that the demand is admissible on that ground. The agreement of arbitration shall determine the time within which the demand for a rehearing shall be made.

ARTICLE LVI. The award shall be obligatory only upon the parties who have concluded the arbitration agreement. When there is a question of the interpretation of an agreement entered into by other Powers besides the parties in litigation, the parties to the dispute shall notify the other Powers which have signed the agreement, of the special agreement which they have concluded. Each one of these Powers shall have the right to take part in the proceedings. If one or more among them avail themselves of this permission, the interpretation in the judgment becomes obligatory upon them also.

ARTICLE LVII. Each party shall bear its own expenses and an equal part of the expenses of the Tribunal.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ARTICLE LVIII. The present Convention shall be ratified with as little delay as possible. The ratifications shall be deposited at The Hague. An official report of each ratification shall be made, a certified copy of which shall be sent through diplomatic channels to all the Powers represented in the Peace Conference at The Hague.

ARTICLE LIX. The Powers which were represented at the International Peace Conference, but which have not signed this Convention, may become parties to it. For this purpose they will make known to the Contracting Powers their adherence by means of a written notification addressed to all the other Contracting Powers.

ARTICLE LX. The conditions under which Powers not

represented in the International Peace Conference may become adherents to the present Convention shall be determined hereafter by agreement between the Contracting Powers.

ARTICLE LXI. If one of the High Contracting Parties shall give notice of a determination to withdraw from the present Convention, this notification shall have its effect only after it has been made in writing to the Government of the Netherlands and communicated by it immediately to all the other Contracting Powers. This notification shall have no effect except for the Power which has made it.

In faith of which the Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention and affixed their seals to it.

Done at the Hague, the 29th July, 1899, in a single copy, which shall remain in the archives of the Netherland Government, and copies of it, duly certified, be sent through the diplomatic channel to the Contracting Powers.

(Signatures.)

THE CZAR'S RESCRIPT.

Issued by Count Muravieff, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the 24th of August, 1898.

The maintenance of general peace and a possible reduction of the excessive armaments which weigh upon all nations present themselves, in the existing condition of the whole world, as the ideal towards which the endeavors of all governments should be directed. The humanitarian and magnanimous spirit of His Majesty the Emperor, my August Master, is wholly convinced of this view.

In the conviction that this lofty aim is in conformity with the most essential interests and the legitimate wishes of all the Powers, the Imperial Government thinks the present moment would be very favorable for an inquiry, by means of international discussion, as to the most effective means of insuring to all the peoples the benefits of a real and durable peace, and, above all, of putting a limit to the progressive development of the present armaments.

In the course of the last twenty years, the longings for general appeasement have been particularly marked in the consciousness of the civilized nations. The preservation of peace has been put forward as the object of international policy. It is in its name that the Great States have concluded between themselves powerful alliances. It is the better to guarantee peace that they have developed their military forces in proportions hitherto unknown, and still continue to increase them without shrinking from any sacrifice.

But all these efforts have not yet been able to bring about the beneficent results of the pacification desired.