[946] See Hall, § 113; Bluntschli, § 440; and Quabbe, op. cit. pp. 149-159.
[947] See against this statement Quabbe, op. cit. p. 158.
Different, however, is the case in which a number of Powers have collectively and severally guaranteed a certain object. Then, not only as a body but also individually, it is their duty to interfere in any case of violation of the object of guarantee.
Pseudo-Guarantees.
§ 576a. Different from real Guarantee Treaties are such treaties as declare the policy of the parties with regard to the maintenance of their territorial status quo. Whereas treaties guaranteeing the maintenance of the territorial status quo engage the guarantors to do what they can to maintain such status quo, treaties declaring the policy of the parties with regard to the maintenance of their territorial status quo do not contain any legal engagements, but simply state the firm resolution of the parties to uphold the status quo. In contradistinction to real guarantee treaties, such treaties declaring the policy of the parties may fitly be called Pseudo-Guarantee Treaties, and although their political value is very great, they have scarcely any legal importance. For the parties do not bind themselves to pursue a policy for maintaining the status quo, they only declare their firm resolution to that end. Further, the parties do not engage themselves to uphold the status quo, but only to communicate with one another, in case the status quo is threatened, with a view to agreeing upon such measures as they may consider advisable for the maintenance of the status quo. To this class of pseudo-guarantee treaties belong:—
(1) The Declarations[948] exchanged on May 16, 1907, between France and Spain on the one hand, and, on the other hand, between Great Britain and Spain, concerning the territorial status quo in the Mediterranean. Each party declares that its general policy with regard to the Mediterranean is directed to the maintenance of the territorial status quo, and that it is therefore resolved to preserve intact its rights over its insular and maritime possessions within the Mediterranean. Each party declares, further, that, should circumstances arise which would tend to alter the existing territorial status quo, it will communicate with the other party in order to afford it the opportunity to concert, if desired, by mutual agreement the course of action which the two parties shall adopt in common.
[948] See Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. XXXV. p. 692, and 3rd Ser. I. p. 3.
(2) The Declarations[949] concerning the maintenance of the territorial status quo in the North Sea, signed at Berlin on April 23, 1908, by Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, France, Holland, and Sweden, and concerning the maintenance of the territorial status quo in the Baltic, signed at St. Petersburg, likewise on April 23, 1908, by Germany, Denmark, Russia, and Sweden. The parties declare their firm resolution to preserve intact the rights of all the parties over their continental and insular possessions within the region of the North Sea, and of the Baltic respectively. And the parties concerned further declare that, should the present territorial status quo be threatened by any events whatever, they will enter into communication with one another with a view to agreeing upon such measures as they may consider advisable in the interest of the maintenance of the status quo.
[949] See Martens, N.R.G. 3rd Ser. I. pp. 17 and 18.
There is no doubt that the texts of the Declarations concerning the status quo in the North Sea and the Baltic stipulate a stricter engagement of the respective parties than the texts of the Declarations concerning the status quo in the Mediterranean, but neither[950] of them comprises a real legal guarantee.