7. All the Constituent States shall have equal rights to participation in the deliberations of the International Council. Any Constituent State may submit to the International Council sitting as a whole any proposal for any alteration of International Law, or for making an enactment of new law; and also (subject to the provisions of these Articles with regard to the submission of justiciable issues to the International High Court) may bring before the Council any question, dispute or difference arising between it and any other Constituent State.
When the International Council is sitting as the Council of the eight Great Powers or as the Council of the States other than the eight Great Powers each of the States represented therein shall have one vote only.
When the International Council is sitting as a whole or as the Council for Europe or as the Council for America, the number of votes to be given on behalf of each State shall be as follows:
As agreed to by the Hague Conference, the relative position of the States works out into the following scale of votes:
| Austria-Hungary, the British Empire, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United States of America | 20 | votes | each |
| Spain | 12 | ” | |
| The Netherlands | 9 | ” | |
| Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, China, Roumania, Turkey | 6 | ” | ” |
| Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico | 4 | ” | ” |
| Switzerland, Bulgaria, Persia | 3 | ” | ” |
| Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Serbia, Siam | 2 | ” | ” |
| The other Constituent States | 1 | vote | ” |
Legislation Subject to Ratification
8. It shall be within the competence of the International Council to codify and declare the International Law existing between the several independent Sovereign States of the world; and any such codifying enactment, when and in so far as ratified by the Constituent States, shall be applied and enforced by the International High Court.
It shall also be within the competence of the International Council from time to time, by specific enactment, to amend International Law, whether or not this has been codified; and any such enactment when and in so far as ratified by the several Constituent States shall be applied and enforced by the International High Court.
Whenever any Constituent State notifies its refusal to ratify as a whole any enactment made by the International Council, it shall at the same time notify its ratification of such part or parts of such enactment as it will consent to be bound by; and the International Council shall thereupon reenact the parts so ratified by all the Constituent States, and declare such enactment to have been so ratified, and such enactment shall thereupon be applied and enforced by the International High Court.
When any enactment of the International Council making any new general rule of law has been ratified wholly or in part by any two or more Constituent States, but not by all the Constituent States, it shall, so far as ratified, be deemed to be binding on the ratifying State or States, but only in respect of the relations of such State or States with any other ratifying State or States; and it shall be applied and enforced accordingly by the International High Court.