2015/06/18 by Susan Pedersen · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #Sovereignty #Political science #Law #Politics
paper · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570485.003.0010
published in Oxford University Press eBooks, 204-232 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2015/06/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The single most contentious question raised by the mandates regime was whether mandatory powers were sovereign in their territories. Legal opinions varied, although the Mandates Commission, under pressure from the Dutch member and jurist D. F. W. Van Rees, had concluded they were not. Until Germany joined the League, however, the League Council avoided the question. German entry, followed by Belgian, South African, and British efforts to bind their territories more closely through annexation, administrative unification, or ‘closer union’, forced the question. This chapter examines those imperial efforts, as well as an attempt by British Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain to limit the Commission's powers. It shows how international publicity and the Commission's dogged effort to articulate new norms instead forced the League Council to agree that mandatory powers were not sovereign in mandated territories — a crucial innovation in international law.