The Hague Conference of 1907 is over and the delegates return to their respective countries. Aspirations for the pacific settlement of international disputes have been voiced and a list of possible arbitrators has been drawn up described by the formal name of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Well and good! No obligation was accepted to have recourse to the Court, but at least the Conference went so far as to declare its acceptance of “the principle of compulsory arbitration” and its applicability to international agreements. At the same time the Conference declared that the divergencies of opinion in respect to compulsory arbitration “have not exceeded the bounds of judicial controversy,” and that the delegates, in the course of their long collaboration, had succeeded “in evolving a very lofty conception of the common welfare of humanity.”

Where a state and an alien agree in a contract to arbitrate disputes relating to the contract, in terms which indicate that arbitration is to be the exclusive remedy, need the alien exhaust any other remedy before an international claim may be presented relating to a dispute which falls within the scope of the arbitration clause ?

Two international programs have developed recently permitting inspections, one by national teams and the other by international teams. Although the two programs concern arms control, they are, however, both limited in scope and applicability. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 authorizes national teams to inspect any area in Antarctica to verify compliance with prohibitions in the treaty against military uses. Under the, Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), arrangements have been adopted which authorize Agency teams to inspect the peaceful uses of nuclear materials and facilities to ensure that they are not being used to further any military purpose.