Parsec

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a unit of stellar distances is now commonly employed by astronomers, 15 and equal to the distance of a star whose C. parallax is one second. It is equivalent tries about three and one - quarter light- NATIONAL JUSTICE, established unthe terms of Article XIV of the League of Nations Covenant, which provided that the League Council should formulate a plan for such a court to be submitted to the members of the League for their adoption. The plan as submitted and formally adopted (by forty-two states up to the date of the first election judges) was the work of an international committee of jurists named for the purpose, Elihu Root being the American representative on the committee and largely responsible for the plan drawn . The court is composed of eleven judges and four deputy judges elected for period of nine years and prohibited during their terms of office from exercising any political or administrative functions. They are chosen without regard to nationality and are required to possess the qualifications necessary in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices or to be jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law. The original judges were elected by the Council and Assembly of the League of Nations from a list of eighty nominees designated mainly by the several national groups of states repre- . John Bassett Moore was elected Arbritrathe United States. Although established under the League Nations Covenant, the court is entirely independent of League authority. It is competent to hear and determine any dispute of an international character which parties thereto submit to it, and in ternational disputes law shall and apply the rules of incustom, international conventions, and the general principles of accepted in civilized nations. Compulsory jurisdiction, recommended recor by the removed from the plan by the League Assembly, but any nation desiring to do so may agree to recognize the court's jurisdiction as compulsory upon itself in certain enumerated classes of disputes, classes and up to September, 1921, thirteen member nations had so agreed. Otherwise than this, the court can hear only such all the parties concerned in each case. cases as are submitted by agreement of Only states may be parties to disputes before the court. The official language is French or English. The formal opening of the court, which to sit at The Hague, took place Feb. , 1922. The first president is Bernard J. Loder of Holland, while other counrepresented in the original memberare Great Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Brazil, and Cuba. Norway, Roumania, Jugo-Slavia, and China are represented in the first deputy judgeships. While the court has no means at its command to enforce compliance with its decisions, it may be noted that under Article XIII of the League of Nations Covenant the members of the League agree that they will carry out in full good faith the award of any court to which they have submitted a dispute for arbitration and that they will not resort to war against any member state complying with such award. In case of failure to carry out an award the League League Council may propose steps to give effect thereto, and should any League member resort to war in disregard of any of its agreements under the Covenant, it shall be deemed by such act to have committed an act of war against all the other members. PERSIA. Treaty of amity and alliance with Soviet Russia, February 26, 1921. Evacuated by all troops, Russian and British (November, 1921).