Illustrations of Failure of Domestic Jurisdiction to Prevent an Increase in Obligations

Abstract

Although the plea of domestic jurisdiction has been entered with great frequency in discussions of disputes and situations before international organs, the development of its effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, has been confined to a few leading cases. Beginning with the Tunis-Morocco Nationality Decrees case during the League period, these cases will be described in this and the following chapter. They are presented as an elaboration and substantiation of the failure of the plea of domestic jurisdiction as a means of avoiding international obligations which has been described in the preceding chapter. Since the cases in this chapter collectively describe the trend in international organs to expand their jurisdiction horizontally to include additional topics that are subject to the discussion and recommendation functions of international organs, each can be described with some brevity. The subtleties by which the Congo crisis illustrates a vertical expansion, or direct international organ involvement in the affairs of a state, require the more detailed coverage of the following chapter.