International Law Association

one of the oldest international, nongovernmental organizations, founded in Brussels in October 1873 under the name of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations; its present name was adopted in 1895. According to the charter, the goals of the International Law Association are the “study, interpretation, and advancement of public and private international law, the making of proposals for the resolution of conflicts of law and for the unification of law, and also the fostering of international understanding and goodwill.” Membership is both individual and collective. Lawyers from 65 countries make up the individual members of the International Law Association. There are national international law associations in 35 countries. Altogether the International Law Association unites more than 4,000 people. The Soviet International Law Association (with more than 300 people) has been a collective member of the International Law Association since 1957; 25 Soviet lawyers are individual members of the International Law Association. The organ of the Soviet International Law Association, Sovetskii ezhegodnik mezh-dunarodnogo prava (Soviet Yearbook of International Law) has been published in the USSR since 1958.

The highest organ of the International Law Association is the conference called every two years; there have been 53 conferences up to Jan. 1, 1969. In the interval between conferences the highest organ is the executive council elected by the conference and made up predominantly of the presidents of the national international law associations; the council is headed by the president of the International Law Association who is elected by the conference for two years. The secretary-general is in charge of the current business of the International Law Association. International committees and commissions dealing with the following problems operate within the framework of the International Law Association: legal aspects of peaceful coexistence, the Charter of the United Nations, the legal position of women, family relations, international medical law, international monetary law, international commercial arbitration, the legal aspects of the peaceful use of atomic energy, the use of the waters of international rivers, space law, the succession of new states, the right of asylum, human rights, and legal aspects of international trade and investment. Publications of the International Law Association include accounts of conferences (every two years) and special reports. Its official languages are English and French.