41. Article 5.—Any signatory which does not submit its disputes to the methods of pacific settlement indicated above, or which does not comply with the provisional measures referred to in article 2, or which does not carry out an award of a duly qualified arbitral body, shall, if these acts of non-compliance are likely to disturb the peace of the world, be declared to be an aggressor and outlawed, the declaration to be made by the Permanent Court or by the Council acting, if need be, by a majority. When this declaration has been made, the Council is to call on Members of the League to put into operation the sanctions contained in article 7.
42. Consideration of these proposals and of those contained in two other schemes submitted led to long discussions in the Committee. These discussions served mainly to bring into relief the different schools of thought. One favoured the widest possible extension of the jurisdiction of the Permanent Court, even into the field of disputes of a political nature; the other held that the Court's jurisdiction should be rigidly limited to disputes of a legal character, while a far-reaching system of arbitration should be established to deal with political disputes. Strong disinclination was shown towards any increase in the existing powers of the Council. On the other hand, it was made clear that no decrease of those powers would be tolerated. On one side it was urged that the Council, when acting as an arbitral body, should make its decisions by a majority vote; on the other, strong exception was taken to any departure from the unanimity rule. As regards the application of sanctions, one group held that mere refusal to arbitrate or failure to carry out an award should justify their application. Another contended equally strongly that sanctions should only be applied when such refusal or failure was accompanied by a resort to war. The extent to which war was legitimate under the Covenant in cases relating to domestic jurisdiction was very fully discussed. The net result was a unanimous agreement to leave paragraph 8 of article 15 untouched.
43. As regards the filling of the gap in article 15 of the Covenant, little progress was made. On the 19th September, therefore, the British representative submitted a scheme to the sub-committee, in which he had endeavoured to meet the differences of opinion which had been expressed. This scheme provided for the acceptance as compulsory of the jurisdiction of the Permanent Court in the cases covered by article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute of the Court, with such reserves as may be consistent therewith. Its main object was, however, the amendment of the Covenant on the lines of the following text:—
"The undersigned will support the introduction of amendments to article 15 of the Covenant for the purpose of amplifying paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 7 of that article on the following lines:—
"If the dispute submitted to the Council is not settled by it as provided in paragraph 3, the Council shall endeavour to persuade the parties to submit the dispute to judicial settlement or arbitration.
"If the parties cannot agree to do so, the Council shall again take the dispute under consideration, and, if it reaches a report which is unanimously agreed to by the Members thereof other than the representatives of the parties to the dispute, the Members of the League agree to accept the recommendations contained in the report.
"If the Council fails to reach a report which is concurred in by all the members other than the representatives of the parties to the dispute, and if the parties are still unable to agree to refer the dispute to arbitration, the Council is empowered to refer the dispute to arbitration on their behalf. One-half of the members of the tribunal, excluding the president, shall be appointed by the Council, after consultation with one party to the dispute, and the other half after consultation with the other party to the dispute. The president shall be appointed by the Council after consultation with the Permanent Court of International Justice if in session, or, if not in session, with the members of its chamber of summary jurisdiction.
"The Members of the League agree that they will comply with the recommendations contained in any award of the Arbitration Tribunal set up by the Council as above.
"In the event of any failure to comply with the recommendations of a report concurred in by all the Members of the Council other than the parties to the dispute or in any award of an arbitration tribunal set up by the Council as above, the Council shall exert all its influence to secure compliance therewith. If such failure to carry out the recommendations is accompanied by any resort to war, the sanctions provided for in article 16, interpreted as provided in this Protocol, shall be applied."