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Document:- A/CN.4/SR.1419 Summary record of the 1419th meeting Topic: Other topics Extract from the Yearbook of the International Law Commission:- 1977, vol. I Downloaded from the web site of the International Law Commission (http://www.un.org/law/ilc/index.htm) Copyright © United Nations 20 Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1977, vol. I frontier, navigation or other treaties which had been the Seminar on International Law, the thirteenth session of responsibility of the predecessor State and which could that Seminar was to be entitled the "Edvard Hambro remain the responsibility of the successor State. Such Session". non-financial obligations could be created not only by 2. He had received a telegram from Sir Francis Vallat, treaty but also by custom. They might be passive obliga- in which Sir Francis expressed deep regret at his inability tions, imposing a non facere requirement on the State to to attend the special meeting and, after recalling Mr. refrain from committing certain sovereign acts so as to Hambro's close links with the United Kingdom, his respect the interests of one or more States, or positive sadness at his passing and his conviction that Mr. obligations imposing a. facere requirement on the State Hambro's work would be his monument. He had also to accept acts of foreign States in its own territory. In his 24 received a telegram from Mr. Pinto, who was likewise first report he had proposed studying those obligations unable to be present, in which he paid tribute to Mr. from the standpoint of objective territorial regimes, as a Hambro as an internationalist of vision and creativity, subject-matter of succession to be considered on the same whose precise and incisive mind had no patience with basis as debts. Since that time the Commission had needless verbiage and irrelevant detail, and as a warm and studied that question in the context of succession of generous spirit. Through his untimely death, the Com- States in respect of treaties. However, it had dealt with it mission had lost an outstanding lawyer, a great gentleman only from the point of view of territorial regimes esta- and a great European. Mr. Pinto asked the Chairman to blished by treaty—although such regimes could also be convey his message of condolence to Mrs. Hambro and established by custom—as it had been considering the the Permanent Representative of Norway to the United matter in connexion with succession of States in respect Nations Office. of treaties. The Commission had in fact exceeded the scope of succession of States in respect of treaties, since 3. Mr. Hambro's death had cast a shadow of scrrow it had referred not only to treaties but also to frontier over the first session of the new Commission. It had been regimes and other territorial regimes created by treaties, at the beginning of a new and brilliant mission in Paris thus confusing treaties as a matter susceptible of suc- and a new term as member of the Commission, two tasks cession and treaties as an instrument of succession. dear to his heart, that Mr. Hambro had been taken away The Commission had thus dealt with succession to object- by the irrevocable call of destiny. If ever there had been a ive regimes established by a treaty. life completely dedicated to the cause of international law and international relations, it had been that of The meeting rose at 1 p.m. Edvard Hambro. He had indeed been born into inter- national life, for his father had also been one of Norway's 24 See foot-note 11 above. most distinguished diplomats. Both men had headed supreme international bodies, for his father had been President of the League of Nations Assembly, while the Commission's late friend had been President of the twenty- fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly. 1419th MEETING 4. Edvard Hambro had been born in Oslo in 1911 and had obtained a law degree at the University of Oslo Monday, 16 May 1977, at 3.10 p.m. before going on to take a doctorate in political science at the Graduate Institute for International Studies of the Chairman: Mr. Jose SETTE CAMARA University of Geneva. His curriculum vitae thereafter was so rich and so impressive that it was difficult to make Members present: Mr. Ago, Mr. Bedjaoui, Mr. Calle even a summary of it. He had been Ambassador of Nor- y Calle, Mr. Castaneda, Mr. Dadzie, Mr. Diaz Gonzalez, way in important capitals and had undertaken numerous Mr. El-Erian, Mr. Francis, Mr. Jagota, Mr. Njenga, diplomatic and special missions; he had given countless Mr. Quentin-Baxter, Mr. Riphagen, Mr. Sahovic, lectures and courses at the Hague Academy of Inter- Mr. Schwebel, Mr. Sucharitkul, Mr. Thiam, Mr. national Law and in nearly every important university Tsuruoka, Mr. Ushakov, Mr. Verosta, Mr. Yankov. throughout the world; he had held numerous honorary degrees and played an important role in scores of arbi- tration cases; and he was the author of a long list of books and articles. Mr. Hambro's life was well-known to all Tributes to the memory of Mr. Edvard Hambro members of the Commission, because it was intertwined with the history of contemporary international life, of 1. The CHAIRMAN, declaring open the special meeting which it unquestionably constituted an important part. which the Commission had decided to hold to honour It was enough to single out the beginning and the end: the memory of its dear and distinguished friend, the late as a young man of 35, he had been appointed Registrar Ambassador Edvard Hambro, said that a tribute of of the International Court of Justice and had published silence had been paid to Mr. Hambro's memory at the the very first book of commentaries on the Charter of the first meeting of the current session on the proposal of the United Nations, he had died as President of the Institute Legal Counsel of the United Nations. A similar tribute of International Law, the learned society to which he had had been paid by the recent United Nations Conference been so devoted. on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties. On the 5. In the five years in which they had worked together, proposal of the Senior Legal Officer in charge of the he had learned to admire in Mr. Hambro qualities which 1419th meeting—16 May 1977 21 were not recorded in a curriculum vitae: his modesty, that Academy had appointed him to teach at Bangkok. his friendliness, his ever-present good humour and his He had been elected a member of the Curatorium only kindness, behind which had lain the magnitude of his two weeks before his death. The Institute of International culture, the brilliance of his intellect, and the soundness Law, which had appointed him President, would miss of his experience. Thomas Lynch had written that him at its forthcoming session at Oslo, which he had been "wisdom is not hard voiced and frowning, but benign looking forward to and for which he had done everything and approachable", and, even in illness, Edvard Hambro possible. As for his contribution to the International had never been worried and depressed, but always ready Law Commission, Mr. Hambro had given an example for a joke. which it would be difficult to equal. The members of the 6. In closing his own tribute to the memory of Mr. Commission who had known him, and had had the plea- Milan Bartos three years ago, Mr. Hambro had pro- sure of listening to his speeches, so full of learning and phetically quoted some lines from Samuel Butler: wisdom, and of being honoured by his friendship would always miss him and faithfully cherish his memory. Yet meet we shall, and part, and meet again, Where dead men meet, on lips of living men. 11. Mr. EL-ERIAN said that nothing about Edvard Hambro had been ordinary: neither his appearance, While the physical vacancy left by Mr. Hambro's depar- which had been both commanding and impeccable, nor ture would be filled, that could never be so of the vacuum his convictions, which had been deep and intense, nor left in the hearts of his friends, who had been accustomed his intellect, which had been powerful and subtle, nor to enjoying his warm comradeship, admiring his learned his wit, which had been rich and sharp. spirit and benefiting from his concise comments, rich in wisdom and experience. 12. To the family of the United Nations, Edvard Hambro had been the distinguished Registrar of the International 7. Mr. AGO said that Edvard Hambro's death had been Court of Justice, an outstanding President of the General a cruel loss for the Commission and for the international Assembly, the eminent Permanent Representative of community as a whole. Edvard Hambro, who had been Norway in New York and Geneva, and an active partici- admired and loved, had set an example by devoting his pant in innumerable meetings and conferences. To entire life to problems of peaceful international relations, students and practitioners of international law, he had as an active participant in political bodies and delegations been—to mention only a few of his works—co-author representing his country, as a judge on some of the of the standard work on the Charter of the United highest international tribunals, and as a teacher and a Nations and the author of the monumental work on the man of learning. case law of the International Court of Justice. He had 8. With respect to the first of those aspects, he recalled brought to both those works first-hand knowledge, that during the war Edvard Hambro had taken refuge acquired in the former case through active participation first in the United States of America and then in London, in the San Francisco Conference, and in the latter where he had acted as secretary to the Minister for Foreign through long years of devoted service as Registrar of the Affairs of the Norwegian Government.

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