G 2.7 PROBST Good Offices
CHAPTER III 'Good Offices': The Swiss Experience A. GENERAL REMARKS 1. It would be presumptuous, within the context of the present survey, to want to cover the totality of 'Good Offices' of modem times, as actually performed. This would remain very much in the sphere of generalities. For those who would wish to go into all the details, comprehensive surveys are available, especially with regard to the classical conflict-settling instruments of international law. However, based on his knowledge of Swiss practice, and his personal experience of it, your author proposes to confine himself to a number of such selected examples characteristic for the ensemble of the subject matter.1 A further limitation: for the time being we are looking at only the good offices belonging to the classical categories of international law (i.e., good offices in the strict legal sense, mediation, conciliation, arbitration and international jurisdiction), keeping not only the Protecting Power but also the more recent pragmatic forms of services for the chapters that follow. Generally, it can be said that the history of Switzerland since its origin, the Bund of 1291, the first Federal Charter, has been closely associated with the principles of the peaceful settlement of disputes. It was rooted in the necessity, over centuries, to keep together the rather disparate, heterogeneous parts of the loosely knit ancient Confederation through the intercession of member-Confederates. 1. For more details on the Swiss practice see Probst, Bindschedler-Robert, as well as the recent publicationsof Stamm and Dreher. 19 18 (or sometimes another member of the Federal Council such as Transposing the traditional experience thus gained into our modem era the Minister for Foreign Affairs), again whether this be as certainly helped Switzerland in its ability for corresponding en direct incumbent or by choice of such.3 deavours within the Family of Nations.
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