It should be added that, under the Protocol, as under the Covenant, the Assembly may be substituted for the Council in the consideration of a dispute. It would have in such case the same mediatory powers as the Council and the same arbitral powers as the Council if all the parties refused any other form of arbitration.[[11]]
A very summary statement of the functions of the Council under the Covenant shows what a radical change is made by the provisions of the Protocol. Under the present provisions of Article 15 of the Covenant, a dispute which passes the stage of mediation is considered by the Council. If the Council is unanimous in making recommendations, their effect is simply to prevent war, not finally to settle the dispute. If the Council is not unanimous, its recommendations may have a moral effect, but have no legal effect whatever.
So far as concerns these provisions of the Protocol, they may be summed up as follows: they provide that every possible dispute between the parties to the Protocol which is subject to international cognizance shall be finally determined by a judicial or arbitral tribunal resulting in a legally binding decision or award; and the parties to the Protocol solemnly agree that they will accept any such decision or any such award as final and that they will carry it out in full good faith.[[12]]