Separate Opinion of Judge Morelli (translation)

Document Number
049-19620720-ADV-01-04-EN
Parent Document Number
049-19620720-ADV-01-00-EN
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Bilingual Document File

SEPARATE OPINION OF JUDGE MORELLI
[Translation ]

1concur in the Court's affirmative reply to the question submitted
to it by the United Nations General Assembly. 1 also agree with
the way in which the Court has disposed of most of the particular
points which it thought necessary to consider concerning the con-
formity of the resolutions relating to the Emergency Force and
to the operations in the Congo with the Charter. 1 think however
that the Court did not need to go into these particular points,
because an affirmative answer to the question as formulated by
the General Assembly does not in my view depend on the con-
formity of those resolutions with the Charter.

I. 1 should like first of all to indicate what in my view are the
criteria by which the task that the Court has to perform is to be
determined.
The question referred to the Court has a clearly defined subject,
namely whether the expenditures authorized in certain General
Assembly resolutions, relating to the operations undertaken in
pursuance of certain other resolutions of the General Assembly and
the Security Council, constitute "expenses of the Organization"
within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter of

the United Nations.
That being the question submitted to the Court, the Court must
remain within the bounds of that question, and it is that question
alone which the Court must answer in the operative provisions of
its Opinion. It is for the organ empowered to request an opinion of
the Court to frame in full freedom the question to be submitted to
the Court, and that organ is consequently free to give the question
the scope which it considers most suitable.
According to the amendment proposed by the French delegation
in the General Assembly, the scope of the question ought to have
been broader, and the question ought to have beenworded asfollows :

"Were the expenditures authorized, etc. ...decided on in con-
formity with the provisionsofthe Charter and, if so, dothey consti-
tute 'expensesofthe Organization'within the meaning ofArticle17,
paragrapll2, of the Charter of the United Nations?"

If such an amendment had been adopted the Court would have
been bound, by the actual terms of the request for advisory opinion,
to consider in the first place the question of the conformitg7of
69certain resolutions with the Charter, and the Courut wold have had
to dispose of this question in the operative provisions ofs Opinion.
The French amendment having been rejected, it follows that the
question of the conformity with the Charter of the resolutions
concerned must be regarded as not forming the subject of the
request for advisory opinion. This means that the Court is not
bound by the actual terms of the request for opinion to consider
that question and that it could not, in any case, dispose of it in the
operative provisions of the Opinion.

2. However, the question which is the subject of the request for
opinion is one thing; another are the various questions which the
Court must necessarily consider and dispose of in the reasons for
the Opinion in order to be able to arrive at an answer to the ques-
tion submitted to it.
It is exclusively for the Court to decide, in the process of its

reasoning, what are the questions which have to be solved in order
to answer the question submitted to it. While, as is stated above,
the organ requesting the opinion is quite free as regards the formu-
lation of the question to be submitted to the Court, it cannot,
once that question has been defined, place any limitations on the
Court as regards the logical processes to be followed in answering
it. That organ cannot therefore exclude the possibility of the Court's
dealing with a question which the Court might consider it neces-
sary to answer in order to perform the task entrusted to it. Nor
can the organ requesting the opinion oblige the Court to presuppose
any particular answer to a preliminary question. Any limitation
of this kind would be unacceptable because it would prevent the
Court from performing its task in a logically correct way.

However, in the present case there is nothing either in the text
of the request for opinion or in the debates which preceded the
adoption of that request by the General Assembly which shows an
intention on the part of the Assembly to limit in any way the Court's

freedom to select the path to be followed in answering the question
submitted to it. No limitation of this sort, which would be quite
unacceptable, could be inferred from the rejection of the French
amendment. By rejecting that amendment the Assembly did no
more than quite legitimately define the question which is the sub-
ject of its request to the Court.

Therefore, even'according to the request for advisory opinion,
the Court is free to consider or not consider the question of the
conformity of the resolutions with the Charter (or the other
question, which does ~iot necessarily coincide with the former, of
the validity of the resolutions). This freedom can however be
understood only as subordinated both to therules of law and logic
by which the Court is bound and also to the objective which the

70Court must pursue, which is the solution of the question submitted
to it. In the present case that question relates solely to the legal
characterization of certain expenditures. The Court would therefore
be obliged to consider either the question of the conformity of the
resolutions with the Charter, or the question of the validity of the
resolutions, should it recognize that it is necessary to dispose of
one or other of these questions in order to answer the question of
the characterization of the expenditures. Should the Court on the
contrary not recognize any such necessity, it should refrain from
considering the questions referred to above.

3. For the consideration of the question submitted to the Court
it is desirable to draw a very general distinction between three
different categories of resolutions which rnay be adopted by the

organs of the United Nations.
(a) First from the logical and chronological standpoint, there
are (or rnay be) resolutions in which some activity is decided on or
recommended. Such are the General Assembly and Security
Councilresolutionsconcerning the Emergency Force and the opera-
tions in the Congo.
(b) Secondly, there are resolutions in which the General Asembly,
when approving the budget under Article 17,paragraph 1,author-
izes expenditures. Such resolutions rnay be related to resolutions

of the first category. This is so in the case of the Emergency Force
and the operations in the Congo. But General Assembly resolutions
authorizing expenditures rnay also be independent of any previous
resolution. This happens in the case of United Nations activities
directly provided for by the Charter.

(c) Thirdly, there are the resolutions by which the General
Assembly apportions the expenses among the Members under
Article 17, paragraph 2.
This distinction, which is purely schematic, does not exclude
the possibility that a resolution falling within one of these catego-

ries rnay be the inferential result of another resolution failing in
a different category. In particular, a resolution authorizing a cer-
tain expenditure rnay have to be considered as implied in the
resolution by which the General Assembly apportions the same
expense under paragraph 2 of Article 17. In this case, the first
of the two resolutions must be regarded as a resolution adopted
by the Assembly on the basis of paragrpah I and not paragraph 2
of Article 17. 4. The question submitted to the Court is whether the exgendi-
tures authorized in certain General Assembly resolutions constitute
"expenses of the Organization". Reference is made to paragraph
2 of Article 17 of the Charter. This reference defines the subject
of the question submitted to the Court, and means that an affirma-
tive reply to the question implies the following consequences:
(1) that the expenses referred to must be borne by the Members;
(2) that the General Assembly is empowered to apportion those

expenses among the Members.
The General Assembly has in fact adopted resolutions in which
the expenses in question have been apportioned among the Mem-
bers. The Court however has not to pronounce either on the vaiidity
or on the effects of such resolutions, because the question submitted
to it relates to a point logically prior to the apportionment; it is
directed solely to the characterization of the expenditures as ex-
penses of the Organization \\+thin the meaning of Article 17,
paragraph 2.
Such being the problem submitted to the Court, it is not possible
to envisage its settlement by saying that it is for the Assembly to
decide whether an expenditure is or is not an expense ofthe Organ-
ization within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2,and that
in the present case the Assembly has expressly or impliedly so

characterized the expenditures relating to the Emergency Force
and the operations in the Congo. Indeed, even if the view were
taken that the General Assembly's characterization of an expendi-
ture as an expense of the Organization within the meaning of
paragraph 2 of Article17 is in any case final and binding upon the
Members, and that the Members have consequently no possibility
of disputing the validity of such characterization by alleging its
non-conformity with the rules of the Charter, such a view would
not prevent the Courtfrom verifying whether the GeneralAssembly's
express or implied characterization of the expenses relating to
the Emergency Force and the operations in the Congo is correct or
not. This is for the very simple reason that it is precisely such
verification which constitutes the subject of the request for advisory
opinion made by the Assembly itself to the Court.

5. 1 am of the view that the question of what expenditures con-
stitute "expenses of the Organization" within the meaning of
Article 17, paragraph 2, can be answered only by taking that
paragraph in relation with paragraph I of the same Article 17.
The link between the two first paragraphs of Article 17 shows
in my view that the "expenses of the Organization" referred to in
paragraph 2 can be only expenditures which the General Assembly
has authorized when approving the budget under paragraph I.

The term "budget" used in paragraph Iis not accompanied by
any restriction (such as that in paragraph 3, which refers to the

72"administrative budgets" of the specialized agencies), and must be
understood in the widest sense. It means al1 the budgets of the

Organization-not only the ordinary or administrative budgets,
but also the extraordinary budgets. The fact is that paragraph I
of Article 17 confers on the Assembly a general and exclusive
competence in budgetary matters.

It follows that the "expenses of the Organization" referred to
in paragraph 2 are al1the expenditures which the General Assembly
has authorized in any way whatever when approving the budget
under paragraph I. 1 have no need to repeat that authorization
of an expenditure may be the inferential result of the resolution
in which the General Assembly apportions that expense among
the Members.

6. It is however quite clear that according to paragraph I of
Article 17 the General Assembly may not act in an arbitrary man-
ner when it approves the budget. It can authorize only certain
expenditures, that is to Say, expenditures which are concerned in
someway with the Organization. It can be seen from this that there
is a concept of expenses of the Organization which must be regarded
as underlying paragraph I.
It must be observed, however, that the two concepts of expenses
of the Organization, that implicit in paragraph I and that which is
used in terms in paragraph 2, are different. The first indicates the
expenses which may be authorized by the Assembly, the second
indicates the expenses which are to be borne by the Members as
apportioned by the Assembly. Not only do the two concepts have

different purposes, but they refer to subjects which are not coinci-
dental, in spite of the relationship between the first two paragraphs
of Article 17. The concept of "expenses of the Organization"
which is used in terms in paragraph 2 to indicate the expenses
which are to be borne by the Members as apportioned by the Gen-
eral Assembly relates not to the expenses which the Assembly may
authorize but rather to the expenses which have in jact been
authorized by the Assembly.
The question submitted to the Court is only whether certain
expenditures do or do not constitute "expenses of the Organiza-
tion" within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2.The question
does not relate (or at any rate does not directly relate) to the other
concept of expenses of the Organization implicitly referred to in

paragraph I of Article 17, that is to Say, the expenses which may
be authorized by the General Assembly.
1 have said that the "expenses of the Organization" referred to
in Article 17, paragraph 2,are the expenditures which the General
Assembly has authorized when approving the budget under para-
graph I of that Article. But this is far from disposing of the ques-
tion referred to the Court. The term approval of the budget (and
73hence authorization of expenses) can be used to indicate only valid
approval. It follows that to characterize an expenditure as an ex-
pense of the Organization within the meaning of Article 17, para-
graph 2, necessarily presupposes the validity of the General As-
sembly resolution in which that expenditure was authorized.

But the question may arise whether it is sufficient to stop short
at the problem of the validity of the authorization of the expendi-
ture, or whether it is necessary to go further back and examine also

the validity of any acts of the Organization which decided on or
recommended the activity to which the authorized expenditure
relates. In other words, in the present case, the question may arise
whether it is aIso necessary to examine the validity of the General
Assembly and Security Council resolutions establishing the Emer-
gency Force and deciding on the operations in the Congo.hiioreover,
since the Emergency Force was established by a resolution adopted
by the General Assembly in pursuance of the Uniting for Peace reso-
lution of 3 November 1950, the question may even arise whether
the validity of that resolution also must be verified.
As will be seen, this raises the rather delicate problem of the
validity of the acts of the United Nations. It is my view that this
problem cannot be avoided at least as far as the resolutions in
which the General Assembly authorized the expenditures in ques-
tion are concerned. It will :le seen later if and how consideration
also has to be given to the validity of the earlier resolutions.

7. The rules under which in any legal system the problem of the
validity of legal acts is considered face two different requirements.

On the one hand there is the requirement of legality,that is to say,
conformity of the act with the legal rule. Exclusive consideration
of that requirement would have as its consequence the denial of
any value to an act not in conformity with the legal rule. On the
other hand, however, there is the requirement of certainty, which
would be very seriously jeopardized if the validity of a legal act
were at al1 times open to challenge on the ground of its non-con-
formity with the legal rule.

The two opposed requirements which 1have indicated have been
happily reconciled in national legal systems, particularly as regards
the acts of public authorities and, even more so, as regardsadminis-
trative acts.

It must first of al1be observed that in municipal law there are a
whole number of cases in which the non-conformity of an act
with the legal rule constitutes a mere irregularity having no effect
on the validity of the act. But there are more serious cases where

lack of conformity, on the contrary, entails the invalidity of the
act. Such invalidity may well constitute absolutenullity, operating
74ipso iure,so that the act which it affects produces no legal effects.
However, in municipal law cases of absolute nullity are of a quite
exceptional character. In general, the invalidity of acts in municipal
law, and in particular administrative acts, involves not the nullity
(absolute nullity), but rather the voidability of the actA voidable
act is an act which, in spite of the defects by which it is vitiated,
produces al1its effects as long as it is not annulled bythe competent
organ. It is only as a result of being annulled .that the act loses,
retroactively, its effectiveness. This aspect of invalidity of an
administrative act as voidability in municipal law is closely linked
with the system of the means of recourse open in such municipal
law against the illegitimacy of administrative acts, and which
have to be used in a prescribed form and within a fixed time-limit.

It follows that an administrative act, even though vitiated by a
defect of such a nature as to entai1 invalidity, may in spite of that
produce ail the effects proper to a com~letely valid act: not only
temporary, but also permanent, effects. First, this occurs wherever
the existing remedies are not made use of in the manner and within
the time-limits prescribed. Secondly, the same occurs when the
competent supervisoryorgan, although the matter has been properly
referred to it, does not recognize the defect by which the act is
objectively vitiated. It is precisely by prescribing on the one hand
forms and time-limits in which the existing remedies against ille-
gitimate acts may be sought, and by conferring on the other hand
finality on the supervision exercised by the competent authority,
that municipal law ensures that the requirement of certainty in
connection with legal situations arising from administrative acts
shall be satisfactorily met.

8. In the case of acts of international organizations, and in
particular the acts of the United Nations, there is nothing compara-

ble to the remedies existing in domestic law in connection with
administrative acts. The consequence of this is that there is no
possibility of applying the concept of voidability to the acts of the
United Nations. If an act of an organ of the United Nations had
to be considered as an invalid act, such invalidity could constitute
only the absolutc ~ullity of the act. In other words, there are only
two alternatives for the acts of the Organization: either the act
is fdly valid, or it is an absolute nullity, because absolute nullity
is the only form in which invalidity of an act of the Organization
can occur. An act of the Organization considered as invalid would
be an act which had no legal effects, precisely because it would be
an absolutenullity. The lack of effect of such an act codd be alleged
and a finding in that sense obtained at any time. It must be recognized that there may be cases in which an act of
the Organization would have to be considered as invalid, and
therefore as anabsolute nullity, with the rather serious consequences
which 1 have just indicated. The problem is to determine what
these cases are. As will be seen, this is a question of construction of
the rules determining the conditions for a legal act which are of
the nature of absolute requirements, that is to Say where failure
to satisfy the condition constitutes an essential defect involving
the invalidity of the act.
In dealing with such a question of construction, the nature and

significance of the invalidity which may be held to attach to an
act of the Organization must never be lost sight of, such invalidity
constituting, as has been seen, the absolute nullity and not the voi-
dability of the act. This prevents the conditions for the validity
of acts of the Organization being given an extension similar to that
of the conditions for the validity of acts under municipal law, and
in particular administrative acts.If, ignoring the difference between
the nature of the invalidity of domestic administrative acts (voi-
dability) and the nature of the invalidity of acts of the Vnited
Nations (absolute nullity), the same extension were given to the
conditions for the validity of both these classes of act, very serious
consequences would result for the certainty of the legal situations
arising from the acts of the Organization. The effectiveness of such
acts would be laid open to perpetual uncertainty, because of the
lack in the case of acts of the Organization of the means by which
the need for certainty is satisfied in connection with administrative
acts under domestic law.
This makes it necessary to put a very strict construction on the
rules by which the conditions for the validity of acts of the Organiza-
tion are determined, and hence to regard to a large extent the non-
conformity of the act with a legal rule as a mere irregularity having
no effect on the validity of the act. It is only in especiallyserious

cases that an act of the Organization could be regarded as invalid,
and hence an absolute nullity. Examples might be a resolution
which had not obtained therequired majority, or a resolution vi-
tiated by a manifest excès de m ou v osich as, in particular, a
resolution the subject of which had nothing to do with the purposes
of the Organization) .

It is otherwise in the case, for example, of violation of the rules
governing competence. The violation of such rules in domestic law
involves the invalidity of the act in the usual form of voidability.
For the reasons 1 have given, the violation of the rules concerning
competence by an organ of the United Nations cannot entai1 the
voidability of the act; but the same violation does not have the
much more serious effect of the absolute nullity of the act. This
means that the failure of the act to conform to the rules concerning
competence has no influence on the validity of the act, which

76amounts to saying that each organ of the United Nations is the
judge of its own competence.

g. The restrictive application of the concept of invalidity to the
resolutions in which the General Assembly authorized the expen-
ditures in question in this case must in my view lead to a conclu-
sion upholding the full validity of those resolutions.

It has already been said that the General Assembly may not in
this field act in an arbitrary way. The Assembly is bound by the
provisions of the Charter which it must interpret and apply cor-
rectly. Under these rules, the Assembly is required to establish
and appreciate correctly a body of factual circumstances. It must
also verify the validity of the resolutions of the different United
Nations organs concerning the activity to which the expenditure
to be authorized or not relates; this naturally has to be done in
accordance with the very restrictive criteria indicated above.

However, it is one thing to say that the General Assembly is
bound by the rules of the Charter and by the actual facts or legal

situations to which those rules relate; it would be quite another to
say that this obligation on the General Assembly has its sanction
in the invalidity of resolutions of the Assernbly not in conformity
with that obligation. For the latter it would be necessary to show
that the legal rule concerning the approval of the budget and hence
authorization of expenses by the General Assembly (the rule aris-
ing from Article 17,paragraph 1,of the Charter)makes the validity
of the Assembly's resolution dependent both on conformity of the
resolution with the provisions of the Charter and on the correct-
ness of the Assembly's ascertainment of situations of fact or of
law in any way relevant. It is my view that this is not possible.

In my view it is not possible to suppose that the Charter leaves it
open to any State Member to claim at any tirne that an Assembly
resolution authorizing a particular expense has never had any
legal effect whatever, dn the ground that the resolution is based
on a wrong interpretation of the Charter or an incorrect ascer-

tainment of situations of fact or of law. It must on the contrary
be supposed that the Charter confers finality on the Assembly's
resolution irrespective of the reasons, whether they are correct
or not, on which the resolution is based; and this must be so even
in a field in which the Assembly does not have true discretionary
power.

IO. Once the validity of the resolutions in which the General
Assembly authorized the expenditures relating to the Emergency
Force and the operations in the Congo has been recognized, it will
be seen that the question of validity does not arise at al1in connec-tion with the resolutions which are presupposed by those 1 have
just mentioned, that is to Say, the resolutions by which the General
Assembly established the Emergency Force and the Security
Council decided on the operations in the Congo.

If the question of the validity of these latter resolutions were to
be examined independently and in gerieral terms, that is to Say, as
regards al1 the effects which those resolutions seek to produce, it
would have to be answered in the affirmative, for reasons similar
to those which 1 have given in connection with the validity of the
General Assembly resolutions authorizing the expenditures. But
the problem of the validity of those resolutions, which might be
called the basic resolutions,does not arise at al1in connection with
the answer to be given to the question submitted to the Court.
For the purposes of that question, the basic resolutions have not
to be taken into account as regards the totality of their effects.
They constitute only circumstances which the Assembly had to
have regard to and satisfy itself as to the existence of. For reasons

that 1 have indicated, the examination by the Assembly of the
validity of the basic resolutions for the purpose of authorizing the
relevant expenses is final. In consequence, the validity of the
basic resolutions cannot be challenged with the purpose of chal-
lenging the validity of the Assembly resolutions authorizing the
expenses; that would be so even on the supposition (which in my
view must be dismissed) of the validity of the basic resolutions
having to be denied in respect of their other effects.
To Say that in order to authorize a particular expenditure the
General Assembly must inter alia satisfy itself of the validity of
the resolutions concerning the activity to which the expenditure
relates, and that its judgment is final, does not mean that the
General Assembly exercises true supervision over those resolutions.
This is because the General Assembly's examination does not relate

to the resolutions in question as far as the whole of their effects is
concerned, but relates to those resolutions only as a circumstance
which the General Assembly has to take into account with a
view to authorizing expenditure. The finality of the Assembly's
judgment is but an aspect of the finality of the authorization of the
expenditure.

II. My reasoning may be summarized in the following proposi-
tions :
(r) "Expenses of the Organization", within the meaning of
Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter are expenses which have
been validly authorized by the General Assembly under paragraph I
of that Article;
(2) The resolutions in which the General Assembly authorized
the expenditures relating to the Emergency Force and the opera-

tions in the Congo are valid resolutions, irrespective of the validity
of the General Assembly and Security Council resolutions by whichthe Emergency Force was established and the operations in the
Congo decided upon ;
(3) Consequently, the expenditures relating to the Emergency
Force and the operations in the Congo constitute "expenses of the
Organization" within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2,
of the Charter.

(Signed) Gaetano MORELLI.

Bilingual Content

OPINION IKDIVIDUELLE DE RI. MORELLI

Je me rallie à la réponse affirmative donnée par la Cour à la
question qui lui a étésoumise par 1'Assembléegénéraledes Nations
Unies. Et je partage aussi la façon dont la Cour a tranché la plupart
des points particuliers qu'elle a estimé nécessairede considérer
et qui concernent la conformité avec la Charte des résolutions

relatives à la Force d'urgence et aux opérations au Congo. Je pense
toutefois que la Cour n'avait pas besoin d'aborder ces points
particuliers, parce que la solution affirmative de la question, telle
qu'elle a étéformuléepar l'Assembléegénérale,est indépendante,
à mon avis, de la conformitédesdites résolutionsavec la Charte.

1. Je voudrais indiquer, tout d'abord, les critères d'aprèslesquels,
à mon avis, il faut déterminer la tâche que la Cour doit accomplir.

La question dont la Cour est saisie a un objet bien délimité,

consistant à voir si les dépensesautoriséespar certaines résolutions
de l'Assemblée générale,relatives aux opérations entreprises en
exécution de certaines autres résolutions de la même Assemblée
généraleet du Conseil de Sécurité,constituent des « dépenses de
l'organisation » au sens du paragraphe 2 de l'articl17 de la Charte
des Nations Unies.
Telle étant la question soumise à la Cour, c'est dans les limites
de cette question que la Cour doit s'en tenir; et c'est uniquement à
cette question que la Cour doit répondre dans le dispositif de son

avis. C'est, en effet, à l'organe habilité à demander un avis à la
Cour qu'il appartient de formuler, en toute liberté, la question à
soumettre à la' Cour; ledit organe est, par conséquent, libre de
donner à la question l'ampleur qu'il estime la plus convenable.
Selon l'amendement proposé par la délégationfrançaise à l'As-
semblée générale,la question aurait dû avoir une plus grande
ampleur. La question aurait dû être libelléecomme suit:

((Lesdépensesautorisées,etc., ont-elles étédécidées conformé-
ment aux dispositions de la Charte, et dans l'affirmative consti-
tuent-elles des dépencesde l'Organisation 1)au sens du para-
graphe 2 de l'article 17de la Charte des Nations Unie))

Si un tel amendement avait étéaccepté, la Cour aurait été
obligée,par. les termes mêmesde la requête pour avis consultatif,
d'examiner, en premier lieu, le problème de la conformité de cer-

69 SEPARATE OPINION OF JUDGE MORELLI
[Translation ]

1concur in the Court's affirmative reply to the question submitted
to it by the United Nations General Assembly. 1 also agree with
the way in which the Court has disposed of most of the particular
points which it thought necessary to consider concerning the con-
formity of the resolutions relating to the Emergency Force and
to the operations in the Congo with the Charter. 1 think however
that the Court did not need to go into these particular points,
because an affirmative answer to the question as formulated by
the General Assembly does not in my view depend on the con-
formity of those resolutions with the Charter.

I. 1 should like first of all to indicate what in my view are the
criteria by which the task that the Court has to perform is to be
determined.
The question referred to the Court has a clearly defined subject,
namely whether the expenditures authorized in certain General
Assembly resolutions, relating to the operations undertaken in
pursuance of certain other resolutions of the General Assembly and
the Security Council, constitute "expenses of the Organization"
within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter of

the United Nations.
That being the question submitted to the Court, the Court must
remain within the bounds of that question, and it is that question
alone which the Court must answer in the operative provisions of
its Opinion. It is for the organ empowered to request an opinion of
the Court to frame in full freedom the question to be submitted to
the Court, and that organ is consequently free to give the question
the scope which it considers most suitable.
According to the amendment proposed by the French delegation
in the General Assembly, the scope of the question ought to have
been broader, and the question ought to have beenworded asfollows :

"Were the expenditures authorized, etc. ...decided on in con-
formity with the provisionsofthe Charter and, if so, dothey consti-
tute 'expensesofthe Organization'within the meaning ofArticle17,
paragrapll2, of the Charter of the United Nations?"

If such an amendment had been adopted the Court would have
been bound, by the actual terms of the request for advisory opinion,
to consider in the first place the question of the conformitg7of
69taines résolutions avec la Charte; problème que la Cour aurait
dû trancher dans le dispositif de son avis. L'amendement français
ayant été rejeté, il s'ensuit que la question de la conformité des
résolutions, dont il s'agit, avec la Charte doit êtreconsidéréene
pas former l'objet de la requêtepour avis consultatif. Cela signifie
que la Cour n'est pas obligée,par les termes mêmesde la demande
d'avis, d'examiner ladite question et qu'elle ne pourrait, en aucun
cas, la trancher dans le dispositif de l'avis.

2. Mais la question formant l'objet de la demande d'avis est une
chose; autre chose sont les différentes questions que la Cour doit
nécessairement examiner et trancher dans les motifs de l'avis pour
pouvoir aboutir à la solution de la question qui lui est soumise.

Or c'est exclusivement à la Cour qu'il appartient de déterminer,
dans le cours de son raisonnement, quelles sont les questions dont la
solution est nécessairepour résoudrela question qui lui est soumise.
Si, comme on l'a dit, l'organe qui demande l'avis est tout à fait

libre pour ce qui concerne la formulation de la question à soumettre
à la Cour, il ne peut, une fois déterminée unetelle question, poserà
la Cour aucune limite pour ce qui concerne le procédé logiqueà
suivre pour la résoudre. Par conséquent, ledit organe ne peut
exclure la possibilité, pour la Cour, de trancher une question dont
la solution pourrait être estiméepar la même Cour nécessairepour
remplir la tâche qui lui est confiée.L'organe qui demande l'avis
ne peut non plus obliger la Cour à présupposer une solution donnée
d'une question préalable.Toutelimitation de cette sorte serait inad-
missible parce qu'elle empêcheraitla Cour de remplir sa tâche d'une
façon logiquement correcte.
Mais, pour ce qui concerne le cas d'espèce, ni dans le texte de la
demande d'avis ni dans les débats qui ont précédé l'adoption d'une
telle demande par l'Assemblée générale on ne trouve aucun élément

qui révèlela volonté de celle-ci de limiter, de quelque façon que
ce soit, la liberté, pour la Cour, de choisir le chemin à suivre pour
la solution de la question qui lyi est soumise. Une limitation de
cette sorte, qui serait tout à fait inadmissible, ne pourrait être
déduite du rejet de l'amendement français. En rejetant un tel
amendement, l'Assemblée n'afait que délimiter, d'une façon tout
à fait légitime, la question formant l'objet de la requête qu'elle
adressait à la Cour.
La Cour est partant libre, mêmed'après la requête pour avis
consultatif, d'examiner ou de ne pas examiner le problème de la
conformité des résolutionsavec la Charte (ou bien l'autre problème,
ne coïncidant pas nécessairement avec celui-ci, de la validité des
résolutions).Mais une telle liberténe peut êtreentendue que comme

liberté subordonnée, non seulement aux règles du droit et de la
logique par lesquelles la Cour est liée, mais aussi au but que lacertain resolutions with the Charter, and the Courut wold have had
to dispose of this question in the operative provisions ofs Opinion.
The French amendment having been rejected, it follows that the
question of the conformity with the Charter of the resolutions
concerned must be regarded as not forming the subject of the
request for advisory opinion. This means that the Court is not
bound by the actual terms of the request for opinion to consider
that question and that it could not, in any case, dispose of it in the
operative provisions of the Opinion.

2. However, the question which is the subject of the request for
opinion is one thing; another are the various questions which the
Court must necessarily consider and dispose of in the reasons for
the Opinion in order to be able to arrive at an answer to the ques-
tion submitted to it.
It is exclusively for the Court to decide, in the process of its

reasoning, what are the questions which have to be solved in order
to answer the question submitted to it. While, as is stated above,
the organ requesting the opinion is quite free as regards the formu-
lation of the question to be submitted to the Court, it cannot,
once that question has been defined, place any limitations on the
Court as regards the logical processes to be followed in answering
it. That organ cannot therefore exclude the possibility of the Court's
dealing with a question which the Court might consider it neces-
sary to answer in order to perform the task entrusted to it. Nor
can the organ requesting the opinion oblige the Court to presuppose
any particular answer to a preliminary question. Any limitation
of this kind would be unacceptable because it would prevent the
Court from performing its task in a logically correct way.

However, in the present case there is nothing either in the text
of the request for opinion or in the debates which preceded the
adoption of that request by the General Assembly which shows an
intention on the part of the Assembly to limit in any way the Court's

freedom to select the path to be followed in answering the question
submitted to it. No limitation of this sort, which would be quite
unacceptable, could be inferred from the rejection of the French
amendment. By rejecting that amendment the Assembly did no
more than quite legitimately define the question which is the sub-
ject of its request to the Court.

Therefore, even'according to the request for advisory opinion,
the Court is free to consider or not consider the question of the
conformity of the resolutions with the Charter (or the other
question, which does ~iot necessarily coincide with the former, of
the validity of the resolutions). This freedom can however be
understood only as subordinated both to therules of law and logic
by which the Court is bound and also to the objective which the

70 Cour doit poursuivre et qui consiste dans la solution à donner à
la question qui lui est soumise. Or cette question, dans le cas
d'espèce, concerne uniquement la qualification juridique de cer-
taines dépenses.Par conséquent, la Cour serait obligéed'examiner
soit le problème de la conformitédes résolutions avec la Charte soit
le problème de la validitédes résolutions,au cas où elle reconnaîtrait
que la solution de l'un ou del'autre de ces problèmes est nécessaire
pour trancher la question de la qualification des dépenses. Au cas,
au contraire, où une telle nécessiténe serait pas reconnue par la
Cour, celle-ci devrait s'abstenir d'examiner les problèmes que l'on
vient de mentionner.

3. En vue de l'examen de la question soumise à la Cour, il est
convenable de distinguer, d'un point de vue très général,entre

trois catégories différentesde résolutions qui peuvent être adoptées
par les organes des Nations Unies.
a) En premier lieu, du point de vue logique et chronologique, il
y a (ou il peut y avoir) les résolutions par lesquelles une certaine
activité est décidée ou recommandée. Telles lesrésolutions de l'As-
semblée généraleet du Conseil de Sécurité concernant la Force
d'urgence et les opérations au Congo.

b) Ily a, en deuxième lieu, les résolutions par lesquelles 1'Assem-
blée générale,approuvant le budget aux termes de l'article 17,
paragraphe ler,autorise ces dépenses. Ces résolutions peuvent se
trouver en rapport avec des résolutions de la première catégorie.
C'est justement le cas de la Force d'urgence et des opérations au
Congo.Mais il se peut aussi qu'une résolutionde l'Assembléeautori-
sant des dépenses soitindépendante de toute résolutionprécédente.
C'est ce qui arrive lorsqu'il s'agit d'activités des Nations Unies
prévuesdirectement par la Charte.
c) 11 y a, en troisième lieu, les résolutions par lesquelles, aux
termes de l'article 17, paragraphe 2, l'Assembléegénéralefixe la

répartition des dépensesentre les Membres.
Cette distinction, ayant un caractère purement schématique,
n'exclut pas qu'une résolution, appartenant à l'une des catégories
indiquées, ne puisse résulter implicitement d'une autre résolution
.appartenant à une catégorie différente.Il se peut, en particulier,
qu'une résolution autorisant une certaine dépense doive être
considéréeimplicite dans la résolution par laquelle l'Assemblée
généralefixe la répartition de la même dépenseaux termes du
paragraphe 2 de l'articl17. En ce cas, il faut considérerla première
des deux résolutions indiquées commeune résolution adoptée par
l'Assembléesur la base du paragraphe leret non pas du paragraphe 2
de l'articl17.

71Court must pursue, which is the solution of the question submitted
to it. In the present case that question relates solely to the legal
characterization of certain expenditures. The Court would therefore
be obliged to consider either the question of the conformity of the
resolutions with the Charter, or the question of the validity of the
resolutions, should it recognize that it is necessary to dispose of
one or other of these questions in order to answer the question of
the characterization of the expenditures. Should the Court on the
contrary not recognize any such necessity, it should refrain from
considering the questions referred to above.

3. For the consideration of the question submitted to the Court
it is desirable to draw a very general distinction between three
different categories of resolutions which rnay be adopted by the

organs of the United Nations.
(a) First from the logical and chronological standpoint, there
are (or rnay be) resolutions in which some activity is decided on or
recommended. Such are the General Assembly and Security
Councilresolutionsconcerning the Emergency Force and the opera-
tions in the Congo.
(b) Secondly, there are resolutions in which the General Asembly,
when approving the budget under Article 17,paragraph 1,author-
izes expenditures. Such resolutions rnay be related to resolutions

of the first category. This is so in the case of the Emergency Force
and the operations in the Congo. But General Assembly resolutions
authorizing expenditures rnay also be independent of any previous
resolution. This happens in the case of United Nations activities
directly provided for by the Charter.

(c) Thirdly, there are the resolutions by which the General
Assembly apportions the expenses among the Members under
Article 17, paragraph 2.
This distinction, which is purely schematic, does not exclude
the possibility that a resolution falling within one of these catego-

ries rnay be the inferential result of another resolution failing in
a different category. In particular, a resolution authorizing a cer-
tain expenditure rnay have to be considered as implied in the
resolution by which the General Assembly apportions the same
expense under paragraph 2 of Article 17. In this case, the first
of the two resolutions must be regarded as a resolution adopted
by the Assembly on the basis of paragrpah I and not paragraph 2
of Article 17. 4. La question soumise à la Cour consiste à voir si les dépenses
autorisées par certaines résolutions de l'Assembléegénérale consti-

tuent des ((dépenses de l'organisation ». Référenceest faite au
paragraphe 2 de l'article 17 de la Charte. Cette référence précise
l'objet de la question soumise à la Cour. La mêmeréférencse ignifie
qu'une réponse affirmative à la question implique les conséquences
suivantes: 1) que les dépenses dont il s'agit doivent êtresuppor-
tées par les Membres; 2) que l'Assemblée générala e le pouvoir de
répartir ces dépenses entre les Membres.
Il résulte que l'Assembléegénéralea adopté des résolutions par
lesquelles les dépenses dont il s'agit ont été réparties entre les
Membres. Toutefois la Cour n'a à se prononcer ni quant à la validité

ni quant aux effets de telles résolutions, parce que la question dont
elle est saisie concerne un moment logiquement antérieur à la
répartition; elle concerne uniquement la qualification des dépenses
comme dépenses de l'organisation, au sens du paragraphe 2 de
l'article17.
Tel étant le problème soumis à la Cour, on ne peut penser de le
résoudre endisant que c'est àl'Assembléequ'il appartient de décider
si une dépenseest ou non une dépense de l'organisation au sens de
l'article17, paragraphe 2,et que, dans le cas d'espèce, l'Assemblée,
expressémentou implicitement, a qualifiéde cette façonlesdépenses

relatives à la Force d'urgence et aux opérations au Congo.En effet,
mêmeau cas où l'on serait d'avis que la qualification donnée par
l'Assemblée à une dépense comme dépense de l'organisation, au
sens du paragraphe 2 de l'article17, est en tout cas définitive et
obligatoire pour les Membres et que, par conséquent, les Membres
n'ont aucune possibilité de contester la validité d'une telle qualifi-
cation en alléguant la non-conformité de celle-ci avec les règles de
la Charte, une telle opinion n'empêcherait pas la Cour de vérifiersi
la qualification donnée par l'Assemblée,expressément ouimplicite-

ment, aux dépensesrelatives à la Force d'urgence et aux opérations
au Congo est ou non exacte. Celapour la raison très simple que c'est
justement une telle vérification qui constitue l'objet de la demande
d'avis consultatif que l'Assembléeelle-mêmea adressée à la Cour.

5. Je suis d'avis que le problème consistant à voir quelles dépen-
ses constituent, au sens du paragraphe 2 de l'article17, des (dépen-
ses de l'Organisation )ne peut êtrerésoluqu'en mettant enrapport
ledit paragraphe avec le paragraphe lerdu mêmearticle 17. Le lien

existant entre les deux premiers paragraphes de l'article 17 démon-
tre, à mon avis, que les ((dépenses de l'Organisation ))dont parle
le paragraphe 2,ne peuvent êtreque les dépensesque l'Assemblée
généralea autorisées en approuvant le budget aux termes du
paragraphe ~er.
L'expression abudget » employée au paragraphe ~e*, n'étant
accompagnée d'aucune limitation (comme celle qui se trouve au

72 4. The question submitted to the Court is whether the exgendi-
tures authorized in certain General Assembly resolutions constitute
"expenses of the Organization". Reference is made to paragraph
2 of Article 17 of the Charter. This reference defines the subject
of the question submitted to the Court, and means that an affirma-
tive reply to the question implies the following consequences:
(1) that the expenses referred to must be borne by the Members;
(2) that the General Assembly is empowered to apportion those

expenses among the Members.
The General Assembly has in fact adopted resolutions in which
the expenses in question have been apportioned among the Mem-
bers. The Court however has not to pronounce either on the vaiidity
or on the effects of such resolutions, because the question submitted
to it relates to a point logically prior to the apportionment; it is
directed solely to the characterization of the expenditures as ex-
penses of the Organization \\+thin the meaning of Article 17,
paragraph 2.
Such being the problem submitted to the Court, it is not possible
to envisage its settlement by saying that it is for the Assembly to
decide whether an expenditure is or is not an expense ofthe Organ-
ization within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2,and that
in the present case the Assembly has expressly or impliedly so

characterized the expenditures relating to the Emergency Force
and the operations in the Congo. Indeed, even if the view were
taken that the General Assembly's characterization of an expendi-
ture as an expense of the Organization within the meaning of
paragraph 2 of Article17 is in any case final and binding upon the
Members, and that the Members have consequently no possibility
of disputing the validity of such characterization by alleging its
non-conformity with the rules of the Charter, such a view would
not prevent the Courtfrom verifying whether the GeneralAssembly's
express or implied characterization of the expenses relating to
the Emergency Force and the operations in the Congo is correct or
not. This is for the very simple reason that it is precisely such
verification which constitutes the subject of the request for advisory
opinion made by the Assembly itself to the Court.

5. 1 am of the view that the question of what expenditures con-
stitute "expenses of the Organization" within the meaning of
Article 17, paragraph 2, can be answered only by taking that
paragraph in relation with paragraph I of the same Article 17.
The link between the two first paragraphs of Article 17 shows
in my view that the "expenses of the Organization" referred to in
paragraph 2 can be only expenditures which the General Assembly
has authorized when approving the budget under paragraph I.

The term "budget" used in paragraph Iis not accompanied by
any restriction (such as that in paragraph 3, which refers to the

72 paragraphe 3, qui, à propos des institutions spécialisées,parle de
((budgets administratifs n), doit êtreentendue de la façon la plus
large. Elle indique tous les budgets de l'organisation: non seule-
ment les budgets ordinaires ou administratifs, mais aussilesbudgets
extraordinaires. C'est que le paragraphe ~er de l'article17 confère
à l'Assembléeune compétence généraleet exclusive en matière
budgétaire.
Il s'ensuit que les (dépenses de l'Organisation », dont parle le
paragraphe 2,sont toutes les dépenses que l'Assembléegénéralea

autorisées de quelque façon que ce soit, en approuvant le budget
aux termes du paragraphe I~*.Et je n'ai pas besoin de répéterque
l'autorisation d'une dépense peut résulter implicitement de la
résolution par laquelle l'Assembléegénéralefixe la répartition de
la mêmedépenseentre les Membres.

6. Il est cependant bien sûr que, d'après le mêmeparagraphe ler
de l'article17, l'Assembléegénérale, enapprouvant le budget, ne
peut agir d'une manière arbitraire. Elle ne peut qu'autoriser cer-
taines dépenses: c'est-à-dire les dépenses qui intéressent d'une

certaine façon l'Organisation. On voit par là qu'il y a une notion
de dépenses de l'Organisation qu'il faut considérer sous-jacente au
paragraphe ler.
Il faut toutefois faire remarquer que les deux notions de dépenses
del'Organisation, celle qui est implicite au paragraphe ~e* et celle
qui est expressément employéeau paragraphe 2, sont différentes.La
première indique les dépenses qui peuvent êtreautorisées par l'As-
semblée;la deuxième indique les dépensesqui sont à la charge des
Membres selon la répartition fixéepar l'Assemblée. Nonseulement

les deux notions ont des buts différents, mais elles se réfèrent à des
objets qui ne coïncident pas, malgré le rapport existant entre les
deux premiers paragraphes de l'article 17.La notion de ((dépenses
de l'organisation »,expressément employéeau paragraphe 2 pour
indiquer les dépenses qui sont à la charge des Membres selon la
répartition fixéepar l'Assembléegénérale,se réfère, non pas aux
dépensesque l'Assemblée pe~t autoriser, mais plutôt aux dépenses
qui, e?zfait, ont étéautorisées par l'Assemblée.
Or le problème soumis à la Cour consiste uniquement à voir si des
dépenses donnéesconstituent ou non des ((dépenses de l'organisa-

tion » au sens du paragraphe 2 de l'article17. Le problème ne con-
cerne pas (ou, tout au moins, il ne concerne pas directement) l'autre
notion de dépenses de l'organisation à laquelle le paragraphe I~~
du mêmearticle 17 se réfère implicitement, c'est-à-dire les dépenses
qui peuvent êtreautorisées par l'Assembléegénérale.
J'ai dit que les c(dépenses de l'Organisation », dont parle le
paragraphe 2 de l'article 17, sont les dépenses que l'Assemblée
généralea autorisées en approuvant le budget aux termes du para-
graphe ~er du mêmearticle. Mais de cette façon le problème dont

la Cour est saisie est loin d'êtrerésolu. C'est que, lorsqu'on parle
73"administrative budgets" of the specialized agencies), and must be
understood in the widest sense. It means al1 the budgets of the

Organization-not only the ordinary or administrative budgets,
but also the extraordinary budgets. The fact is that paragraph I
of Article 17 confers on the Assembly a general and exclusive
competence in budgetary matters.

It follows that the "expenses of the Organization" referred to
in paragraph 2 are al1the expenditures which the General Assembly
has authorized in any way whatever when approving the budget
under paragraph I. 1 have no need to repeat that authorization
of an expenditure may be the inferential result of the resolution
in which the General Assembly apportions that expense among
the Members.

6. It is however quite clear that according to paragraph I of
Article 17 the General Assembly may not act in an arbitrary man-
ner when it approves the budget. It can authorize only certain
expenditures, that is to Say, expenditures which are concerned in
someway with the Organization. It can be seen from this that there
is a concept of expenses of the Organization which must be regarded
as underlying paragraph I.
It must be observed, however, that the two concepts of expenses
of the Organization, that implicit in paragraph I and that which is
used in terms in paragraph 2, are different. The first indicates the
expenses which may be authorized by the Assembly, the second
indicates the expenses which are to be borne by the Members as
apportioned by the Assembly. Not only do the two concepts have

different purposes, but they refer to subjects which are not coinci-
dental, in spite of the relationship between the first two paragraphs
of Article 17. The concept of "expenses of the Organization"
which is used in terms in paragraph 2 to indicate the expenses
which are to be borne by the Members as apportioned by the Gen-
eral Assembly relates not to the expenses which the Assembly may
authorize but rather to the expenses which have in jact been
authorized by the Assembly.
The question submitted to the Court is only whether certain
expenditures do or do not constitute "expenses of the Organiza-
tion" within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2.The question
does not relate (or at any rate does not directly relate) to the other
concept of expenses of the Organization implicitly referred to in

paragraph I of Article 17, that is to Say, the expenses which may
be authorized by the General Assembly.
1 have said that the "expenses of the Organization" referred to
in Article 17, paragraph 2,are the expenditures which the General
Assembly has authorized when approving the budget under para-
graph I of that Article. But this is far from disposing of the ques-
tion referred to the Court. The term approval of the budget (and
73 d'approbation du budget (et, par conséquent, d'autorisation de
dépenses), on ne peut indiquer par là qu'une approbation valable.
11s'ensuit que la qualification d'une dépense comme dépense de
l'organisation, au sens de l'article 17, paragraphe 2, présuppose
nécessairement la validité de la résolution de l'Assembléegénérale
par laquelle la mêmedépensea étéautorisée.
Mais on pourrait se demander: faut-il s'arrêterau problème de la
validité del'autorisation de la dépenseoubien faut-il remonter plus
en arrière et examiner aussi la validité des actes éventuels de

l'Organisation qui ont décidéou recommandé l'activité à laquelle
la dépense autorisée seréfère?En d'autres termes, pour ce qui est
du cas d'espèce, on pourrait se demander s'il faut examiner aussi la
validité des résolutions de l'Assemblée générale et du Conseil de
Sécuritépar lesquelles la Force d'urgence a étécrééeet les opéra-
tions au Congo ont étédécidées.En outre, étant donné quela Force
d'urgence a étécrééepar une résolution adoptée par l'Assemblée
généraleen application de la résolutiondu 3 novembre 1950 (Union
pour le maintien de la paix), on pourrait se demander si mêmela
validité decette dernière résolution doit êtrevérifiée.
Comme on le voit, un problème assez délicat se pose: c'est le
problème de la validité des actes de l'organisation des Nations
Unies. Je suis d'avis qu'un tel problème ne pourrait êtreévité,tout
au moins pour ce qui concerne les résolutions par lesquelles l'As-
semblée généralea autorisé les dépenses dont il s'agit. On verra
par la suite si et de quelle façon il faudra considérer aussi la validité

des résolutions antérieures.
j. Les règles par lesquelles, dans un ordre juridique quelconque,
le problème de la validité des actes juridiques est envisagé, se
trouvent en face de deux exigences différentes. Il y a, d'un côté,
l'exigence de la légalitéc,'est-à-dire de la conformité de l'acte avec
la règle de droit. Une considération exclusive d'une telle exigence
aboutirait à la conséquence de nier toute valeur à un acte qui ne
serait pas en conformité avec la règle de droit. Mais il y a, d'autre
part, l'exigence de la certitude; exigence qui serait sacrifiéed'une
façon très grave si l'on admettait la possibilité de contester de tout
temps la validitéd'un acte juridique, en alléguantla non-conformité
du mêmeacte avec la règlede droit.
Une conciliation heureuse entre les deux exigences opposées que
je viens d'indiquer a étéréaliséedans les ordresjuridiques étatiques:
en particulier, pour ce qui concerne les actes des autorités publiques
et, ,encore plus particulièrement, pour ce qui concerne les actes
administratifs.

Il faut, tout d'abord, remarquer que, dans le droit étatique,ily a
toute une série de cas où la non-conformitéde l'acte avec la règlede
droit ne constitue qu'une simple irrégularitén'ayant aucune consé-
quence sur la validité de l'acte. Mais il y a des cas plus graves où
ladite non-conformité entraîne, au contraire, l'invalidité de l'acte.
Une telle invalidité peut bien consister dans la nullitéabsolue :nul-hence authorization of expenses) can be used to indicate only valid
approval. It follows that to characterize an expenditure as an ex-
pense of the Organization within the meaning of Article 17, para-
graph 2, necessarily presupposes the validity of the General As-
sembly resolution in which that expenditure was authorized.

But the question may arise whether it is sufficient to stop short
at the problem of the validity of the authorization of the expendi-
ture, or whether it is necessary to go further back and examine also

the validity of any acts of the Organization which decided on or
recommended the activity to which the authorized expenditure
relates. In other words, in the present case, the question may arise
whether it is aIso necessary to examine the validity of the General
Assembly and Security Council resolutions establishing the Emer-
gency Force and deciding on the operations in the Congo.hiioreover,
since the Emergency Force was established by a resolution adopted
by the General Assembly in pursuance of the Uniting for Peace reso-
lution of 3 November 1950, the question may even arise whether
the validity of that resolution also must be verified.
As will be seen, this raises the rather delicate problem of the
validity of the acts of the United Nations. It is my view that this
problem cannot be avoided at least as far as the resolutions in
which the General Assembly authorized the expenditures in ques-
tion are concerned. It will :le seen later if and how consideration
also has to be given to the validity of the earlier resolutions.

7. The rules under which in any legal system the problem of the
validity of legal acts is considered face two different requirements.

On the one hand there is the requirement of legality,that is to say,
conformity of the act with the legal rule. Exclusive consideration
of that requirement would have as its consequence the denial of
any value to an act not in conformity with the legal rule. On the
other hand, however, there is the requirement of certainty, which
would be very seriously jeopardized if the validity of a legal act
were at al1 times open to challenge on the ground of its non-con-
formity with the legal rule.

The two opposed requirements which 1have indicated have been
happily reconciled in national legal systems, particularly as regards
the acts of public authorities and, even more so, as regardsadminis-
trative acts.

It must first of al1be observed that in municipal law there are a
whole number of cases in which the non-conformity of an act
with the legal rule constitutes a mere irregularity having no effect
on the validity of the act. But there are more serious cases where

lack of conformity, on the contrary, entails the invalidity of the
act. Such invalidity may well constitute absolutenullity, operating
74litéopérant de plein droit, de sorte que l'acte qui en est frappé ne
produit pas d'effets juridiques. Toutefois, dans le droit étatique, les
cas de nullité absolue ont un caractère tout à fait exceptionnel.
En général, l'invalidité des actes du droit étatique, en particulier
des actes administratifs, consiste, non pas dans la nullité (nullité
absolue),mais plutôt dans l'annzdabilitéde l'acte. L'acte annulable
est un acte qui, malgré les vices dont il est entaché, produit tous

ses effets aussilongtemps qu'il n'est pas annulé par l'organe compé;
tent. Ce n'est qu'en conséquence de l'annulation que l'acte perd,
d'une façon rétroactive, son efficacité.Cette configuration, dans le
droit interne, de l'invalidité de l'acte administratif comme annula-
bilité est étroitement liéeavec le système des moyens ouverts par
le mêmedroit interne contre l'illégitimitédes actes administratifs;
moyens qui doivent êtreutilisés dans des formes données et dans
un délai déterminé.
Il s'ensuit qu'un acte administratif, bien qu'entachéd'un vice de
telle nature à en entraîner l'invalidité, peut, malgrécela, produire
tous les effets qui sont propres d'un acte entièrement valable: non
seulement des effets provisoires, mais bien aussi des effets perma-
nents. Cela arrive, en premier lieu, toutes les fois que les moyens
admis ne sont pas utilisés dans les formes et les délaisprescrits.
La mêmechose arrive, en deuxième lieu, lorsque l'organe compé-
tent pour le contrôle, bien que régulièrementsaisi, ne reconnaît pas
le vice dont l'acte est objectivement entaché. C'est justement en
prescrivant, d'un côté,desformes et des délais,dans lesquels doivent
êtreutilisés les moyens admis contre les actes illégitimes, et en

donnant, d'un autre côté,un caractère définitifau contrôle exercé
par l'autorité compétente que le droit interne assure, d'une manière
satisfaisante, la réalisation de l'exigence de la certitude par rapport
aux situations juridiques découlant des actes administratifs.

8. Pour ce qui concerne les actes des organisationsinternationales,
en particulier les actes de l'Organisation des Nations Unies, il n'y a
rien qui puisse êtrecomparé avec les remèdes admis par le droit
interne par rapport aux actes administratifs. La conséquence en
est que la notion d'annulabilité n'a aucune possibilitéd'être appli-
quéeaux actes de l'organisation des Nations Unies. Siun acte émis
par un organe des Nations Unies doit êtreconsidérécomme un acte
invalide, une telle invalidité ne pourrait consister que dans la
nullitéabsolue de l'acte. En d'autres termes, par rapport aux actes
de l'organisation il n'y a que deux alternatives possibles: ou bien
il s'agit d'un acte tout à fait valable, ou bien il s'agit d'un acte
absolument nul, parce que justement la nullité absolue constitue la
seule forme dans laquelle l'invalidité d'un acte de l'Organisation

peut se .présenter. Un acte de l'organisation qui serait considéré
comme invalide,justement parce qu'il s'agirait d'unacte absolument
nul, serait un acte ne produisant pas d'effetsjuridiques. L'inefficacité
d'un tel acte pourrait être de tout temps invoquéeet constatée.
75ipso iure,so that the act which it affects produces no legal effects.
However, in municipal law cases of absolute nullity are of a quite
exceptional character. In general, the invalidity of acts in municipal
law, and in particular administrative acts, involves not the nullity
(absolute nullity), but rather the voidability of the actA voidable
act is an act which, in spite of the defects by which it is vitiated,
produces al1its effects as long as it is not annulled bythe competent
organ. It is only as a result of being annulled .that the act loses,
retroactively, its effectiveness. This aspect of invalidity of an
administrative act as voidability in municipal law is closely linked
with the system of the means of recourse open in such municipal
law against the illegitimacy of administrative acts, and which
have to be used in a prescribed form and within a fixed time-limit.

It follows that an administrative act, even though vitiated by a
defect of such a nature as to entai1 invalidity, may in spite of that
produce ail the effects proper to a com~letely valid act: not only
temporary, but also permanent, effects. First, this occurs wherever
the existing remedies are not made use of in the manner and within
the time-limits prescribed. Secondly, the same occurs when the
competent supervisoryorgan, although the matter has been properly
referred to it, does not recognize the defect by which the act is
objectively vitiated. It is precisely by prescribing on the one hand
forms and time-limits in which the existing remedies against ille-
gitimate acts may be sought, and by conferring on the other hand
finality on the supervision exercised by the competent authority,
that municipal law ensures that the requirement of certainty in
connection with legal situations arising from administrative acts
shall be satisfactorily met.

8. In the case of acts of international organizations, and in
particular the acts of the United Nations, there is nothing compara-

ble to the remedies existing in domestic law in connection with
administrative acts. The consequence of this is that there is no
possibility of applying the concept of voidability to the acts of the
United Nations. If an act of an organ of the United Nations had
to be considered as an invalid act, such invalidity could constitute
only the absolutc ~ullity of the act. In other words, there are only
two alternatives for the acts of the Organization: either the act
is fdly valid, or it is an absolute nullity, because absolute nullity
is the only form in which invalidity of an act of the Organization
can occur. An act of the Organization considered as invalid would
be an act which had no legal effects, precisely because it would be
an absolutenullity. The lack of effect of such an act codd be alleged
and a finding in that sense obtained at any time. 223 AVIS DU 20 VII62 (OPIX.INDIV. DE BI. RIORELLI)

Il faut bien reconnaître qu'il peut y avoir des cas où un acte de
l'organisation devrait êtreconsidéré commeinvalide et, partant,
comme absolument nul, avec les conséquences assez graves que je
viens d'indiquer. Le problème consiste à établir quels sont ces cas.
Comme on le voit, il s'agit là d'un problème d'interprétation des
règlesqui fixent les conditions de l'acte juridique ayant le caractère

de conditions nécessaires: c'est-à-dire les conditions dont le défaut
constitue un vice essentiel, qui entraîne l'invalidité de l'acte.

Pour résoudre un tel problème d'interprétation, il ne faut jamais
perdre de vue le caractère et la portée de l'invalidité à reconnaître
éventuellement à un acte de l'organisation, invalidité consistant,
comme on l'a vu, dans la nullité absolue et non pas dans l'annula-
bilité de l'acte. Cela empêchede donner aux conditions de validité
des actes de l'Organisation une extension pareille à celle des condi-
tions de validité des actesdu droit étatique, en particulier des actes

administratifs. Si, en négligeant la différencede nature entre l'in-
validité des actes internes administratifs (annulabilité) et l'invali-
ditédes actes de l'Organisation des Nations Unies (nullité absolue),
on donnait la mêmeextension aux conditions de validité de l'une
et de l'autre de ces deux catégories d'actes, on aboutirait à des
conséquences bien graves quant à la certitude des situations
juridiques découlant des actes de l'organisation. L'efficacité de
ces actes serait exposée à une incertitude perpétuelle; cela juste-
ment à raison du défaut, par rapport aux actes de l'Organisation,

des moyens par lesquels les exigences de la certitude sont assurées
par rapport aux actes administratifs du droit interne.
Tout cela oblige d'interpréter d'une façon très restrictive les
règlespar lesquelles les conditions de validité des actes de l'organi-
sation sont fixéeset, par conséquent, de considérer, dans une large
mesure, la non-conformité de l'acte avec la règle dedroit comme une
simple irrégularitén'ayant aucune conséquence sur la validité de
l'acte. C'est seulement dans les cas d'une gravité particulière qu'un
acte de l'Organisation pourrait être considéré commeun acte in-
valide et, par conséquent, absolument nul. On pourrait faire l'exem-

ple d'une résolution qui n'aurait pas obtenu la majorité requise ou
d'une résolution entachée d'excèsde pouvoir évident (telle, notam-
ment, une résolution ayant un objet tout à fait étranger aux buts
de l'OrUanisation\.
Les choses se passent autrement dans le'cas, par exemple, de
violation des règles de compétence. La violation de ces règles en-
traîne, dans le droit interne, l'invalidité de l'acte sous la forme
habituelle de l'annulabilité. Pour les raisons que j'ai indiquées, la
violation des règlesde compétencepar un organe des Nations Unies

ne peut entraîner l'annulabilité de l'acte; mais la mêmeviolation
ne produit pas non plus la conséquencebeaucoup plus grave de la
nullité absolue de l'acte. Cela signifie que la non-conformité de
l'acte avec les règles de compétence n'a aucune influence sur la It must be recognized that there may be cases in which an act of
the Organization would have to be considered as invalid, and
therefore as anabsolute nullity, with the rather serious consequences
which 1 have just indicated. The problem is to determine what
these cases are. As will be seen, this is a question of construction of
the rules determining the conditions for a legal act which are of
the nature of absolute requirements, that is to Say where failure
to satisfy the condition constitutes an essential defect involving
the invalidity of the act.
In dealing with such a question of construction, the nature and

significance of the invalidity which may be held to attach to an
act of the Organization must never be lost sight of, such invalidity
constituting, as has been seen, the absolute nullity and not the voi-
dability of the act. This prevents the conditions for the validity
of acts of the Organization being given an extension similar to that
of the conditions for the validity of acts under municipal law, and
in particular administrative acts.If, ignoring the difference between
the nature of the invalidity of domestic administrative acts (voi-
dability) and the nature of the invalidity of acts of the Vnited
Nations (absolute nullity), the same extension were given to the
conditions for the validity of both these classes of act, very serious
consequences would result for the certainty of the legal situations
arising from the acts of the Organization. The effectiveness of such
acts would be laid open to perpetual uncertainty, because of the
lack in the case of acts of the Organization of the means by which
the need for certainty is satisfied in connection with administrative
acts under domestic law.
This makes it necessary to put a very strict construction on the
rules by which the conditions for the validity of acts of the Organiza-
tion are determined, and hence to regard to a large extent the non-
conformity of the act with a legal rule as a mere irregularity having
no effect on the validity of the act. It is only in especiallyserious

cases that an act of the Organization could be regarded as invalid,
and hence an absolute nullity. Examples might be a resolution
which had not obtained therequired majority, or a resolution vi-
tiated by a manifest excès de m ou v osich as, in particular, a
resolution the subject of which had nothing to do with the purposes
of the Organization) .

It is otherwise in the case, for example, of violation of the rules
governing competence. The violation of such rules in domestic law
involves the invalidity of the act in the usual form of voidability.
For the reasons 1 have given, the violation of the rules concerning
competence by an organ of the United Nations cannot entai1 the
voidability of the act; but the same violation does not have the
much more serious effect of the absolute nullity of the act. This
means that the failure of the act to conform to the rules concerning
competence has no influence on the validity of the act, which

76validité de l'acte; ce qui revient à dire que chaque organe des
Kations Unies est juge de sa propre compétence.

9. Une application restrictive de la notion d'invalidité par

rapport aux résolutions par lesquelles l'Assemblée générale a
autorisé les dépensesdont il s'agit dans le cas d'espèce doit amener,
à mon avis, à une conclusion affirmant la pleine validité de telles
résolutions.
On a déjà dit que l'Assembléegénéralene peut agir, en cette
matière, d'une façon arbitraire. L'Assembléeest liéepar les règles
de la Charte, règlesqu'elle doit interpréter et appliquer d'une façon
correcte. En vertu de ces règles, la mêmeAssemblée est tenue
d'établir et d'évaluercorrectement un ensemble de circonstances de
fait. Elle doit, en outre, vérifierla validité des résolutions desdiffé-
rents organes des Nations Unies concernant l'activité à laquelle se
réfèrela dépensequ'il s'agit d'autoriser ou de ne pas autoriser; cela
en conformité, bien entendu, avec les critères très restrictifs que
l'on a indiqués.
Mais une chose est dire que l'Assembléeest liéepar les règles
de la Charte et par la réalitédes situations de fait ou de droit aux-

quelles ces règles se réfèrent.Autre chose serait dire qu'une telle
obligation, pour l'Assemblée générale,trouve sa sanction dans
l'invalidité de la résolution de l'Assembléequi serait en contraste
avec ladite obligation. Pour affirmer cela, il serait nécessaire de
démontrer que la règlede droit visant l'approbation du budget et,
par conséquent, l'autorisation des dépenses par l'Assembléegéné-
rale (règlequi se dégage del'article17,paragraphe ~er,de la Charte)
subordonne la validité de la résolution de l'Assemblée tant à la
conformité de la même résolution avec lesdispositions de la Charte
qu'à l'exactitude de la vérification, par l'Assemblée, dessituations
de fait ou de droit ayant une importance quelconque en cette
matière. Or je suis d'avis que cela n'est pas possible.
A mon avis, il n'est pas possible de penser que la Charte laisse à
chaque État Membre la possibilité decontester de tout temps qu'une
résolutionde l'Assembléeautorisant une dépensedonnéen'a jamais
produit un effet juridique quelconque; cela en alléguant que la

même résolutionest fondée sur une interprétation erronée de la
Charte ou bien sur une vérificationincorrecte d'une certaine situa-
tion de fait ou de droit.11faut penser, au contraire, que la Charte
confère à la résolution de l'Assembléeune valeur définitive, indé-
pendamment des motifs, plus ou moins corrects, sur lesquels la
mêmerésolution est fondée.Cela mêmedans le domaine dans lequel
l'Assembléene jouit pas d'un véritable pouvoir discrétionnaire.

IO. Une fois reconnue la validité des résolutions par lesquelles
l'Assembléegénéralea autorisé les dépenses concernant la Force
d'urgence et les opérations au Congo, on voit qu'un problème de
validité ne se pose pas du tout par rapport aux résolutionsqui sontamounts to saying that each organ of the United Nations is the
judge of its own competence.

g. The restrictive application of the concept of invalidity to the
resolutions in which the General Assembly authorized the expen-
ditures in question in this case must in my view lead to a conclu-
sion upholding the full validity of those resolutions.

It has already been said that the General Assembly may not in
this field act in an arbitrary way. The Assembly is bound by the
provisions of the Charter which it must interpret and apply cor-
rectly. Under these rules, the Assembly is required to establish
and appreciate correctly a body of factual circumstances. It must
also verify the validity of the resolutions of the different United
Nations organs concerning the activity to which the expenditure
to be authorized or not relates; this naturally has to be done in
accordance with the very restrictive criteria indicated above.

However, it is one thing to say that the General Assembly is
bound by the rules of the Charter and by the actual facts or legal

situations to which those rules relate; it would be quite another to
say that this obligation on the General Assembly has its sanction
in the invalidity of resolutions of the Assernbly not in conformity
with that obligation. For the latter it would be necessary to show
that the legal rule concerning the approval of the budget and hence
authorization of expenses by the General Assembly (the rule aris-
ing from Article 17,paragraph 1,of the Charter)makes the validity
of the Assembly's resolution dependent both on conformity of the
resolution with the provisions of the Charter and on the correct-
ness of the Assembly's ascertainment of situations of fact or of
law in any way relevant. It is my view that this is not possible.

In my view it is not possible to suppose that the Charter leaves it
open to any State Member to claim at any tirne that an Assembly
resolution authorizing a particular expense has never had any
legal effect whatever, dn the ground that the resolution is based
on a wrong interpretation of the Charter or an incorrect ascer-

tainment of situations of fact or of law. It must on the contrary
be supposed that the Charter confers finality on the Assembly's
resolution irrespective of the reasons, whether they are correct
or not, on which the resolution is based; and this must be so even
in a field in which the Assembly does not have true discretionary
power.

IO. Once the validity of the resolutions in which the General
Assembly authorized the expenditures relating to the Emergency
Force and the operations in the Congo has been recognized, it will
be seen that the question of validity does not arise at al1in connec-présupposéespar les résolutions que je viens d'indiquer: à savoir,
par rapport aux résolutions par lesquelles l'Assembléegénéralea
crééla Force d'urgence et le Conseil de Sécurité adécidéles opéra-
tions au Congo.
Si l'on voulait examiner le problème de la validitéde ces dernières
résolutions d'une façon autonome et dans ses termes généraux,
c'est-à-dire par rapport à tous les effets que les mêmes résolutions
visent à produire, il faudrait le résoudrepar l'affirmative; cela pour

des raisons analogues à celles que j'ai indiquées à propos de la
validité des résolutions de l'Assembléeautorisant les dépenses.
Mais le problème de la validité des résolutions, que l'on pourrait
nommer de base, ne se pose pas du tout pour la solution de la
question soumise à la Cour.
A cette fin,lesrésolutionsde base n'entrent pas enligne decompte
pour ce qui concerne la totalité de leurs effets. Elles ne constituent
que des circonstances dont l'Assembléea dû tenir compte et que
la même Assembléa e dû vérifier. Orla vérificationde la validitédes
résolutionsde base, accomplie par l'Assembléeaux fins de l'autori-
sation des dépensesrelatives, est, pour ce que j'ai déjàdit, définitive.
Par conséquent, on ne peut coatester la validité des résolutions de

base dans le but de contester la validité des résolutions de1'Assem-
bléeautorisant les dépenses;cela mêmedans l'hypothèse (hypothèse
qui, à mon avis, doit êtreécartée) quela validité des résolutions
de base, pour ce qui concerne les autres effets de ces résolutions,
devrait êtreniée.
En disant que, pour autoriser une certaine dépense,l'Assemblée
généraledoit, entre autres choses, vérifierla validité des résolutions
concernant l'activité à laquelle la dépensese réfèreet qu'une telle
vérification est définitive, on ne veut pas dire que l'Assemblée
générale exerceun véritable contrôle sur lesdites résolutions. Cela
pour la raison que la vérification accomplie par l'Assembléegéné-
rale ne concerne pas les résolutions dont il s'agit dans l'ensemble

de leurs effets; elle concerne ces résolutionsuniquement en tant que
circonstances dont la même Assemblée généraledoit tenir compte
en vue de l'autorisatïon de la dépense. Le caractère définitif de
ladite vérification n'est qu'un aspect du caractère définitif de
l'autorisation de la dépense.

II. Je résume mon raisonnement dans les propositions suivan-
tes:
1) Les (dépenses del'organisation n,au sens du paragraphe 2 de
l'article17 de la Charte, sont les dépensesqui ont étévalablement
autorisées par l'Assembléegénéraleaux termes du paragraphe I~~
du mêmearticle;

2) Les résolutions, par lesquelles l'Assembléegénéralea autorisé
les dépenses concernant la Force d'urgence et les opérations au
Congo, sont des résolutionsvalables,indépendamment de la validité
des résolutions de l'Assembléegénéraleet du Conseil de Sécurité
78tion with the resolutions which are presupposed by those 1 have
just mentioned, that is to Say, the resolutions by which the General
Assembly established the Emergency Force and the Security
Council decided on the operations in the Congo.

If the question of the validity of these latter resolutions were to
be examined independently and in gerieral terms, that is to Say, as
regards al1 the effects which those resolutions seek to produce, it
would have to be answered in the affirmative, for reasons similar
to those which 1 have given in connection with the validity of the
General Assembly resolutions authorizing the expenditures. But
the problem of the validity of those resolutions, which might be
called the basic resolutions,does not arise at al1in connection with
the answer to be given to the question submitted to the Court.
For the purposes of that question, the basic resolutions have not
to be taken into account as regards the totality of their effects.
They constitute only circumstances which the Assembly had to
have regard to and satisfy itself as to the existence of. For reasons

that 1 have indicated, the examination by the Assembly of the
validity of the basic resolutions for the purpose of authorizing the
relevant expenses is final. In consequence, the validity of the
basic resolutions cannot be challenged with the purpose of chal-
lenging the validity of the Assembly resolutions authorizing the
expenses; that would be so even on the supposition (which in my
view must be dismissed) of the validity of the basic resolutions
having to be denied in respect of their other effects.
To Say that in order to authorize a particular expenditure the
General Assembly must inter alia satisfy itself of the validity of
the resolutions concerning the activity to which the expenditure
relates, and that its judgment is final, does not mean that the
General Assembly exercises true supervision over those resolutions.
This is because the General Assembly's examination does not relate

to the resolutions in question as far as the whole of their effects is
concerned, but relates to those resolutions only as a circumstance
which the General Assembly has to take into account with a
view to authorizing expenditure. The finality of the Assembly's
judgment is but an aspect of the finality of the authorization of the
expenditure.

II. My reasoning may be summarized in the following proposi-
tions :
(r) "Expenses of the Organization", within the meaning of
Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter are expenses which have
been validly authorized by the General Assembly under paragraph I
of that Article;
(2) The resolutions in which the General Assembly authorized
the expenditures relating to the Emergency Force and the opera-

tions in the Congo are valid resolutions, irrespective of the validity
of the General Assembly and Security Council resolutions by whichpar lesquelles la Force d'urgence a étécrééeet les opérations au
Congoont étédécidées;
3) Par conséquent,les dépenses concernant la Force d'urgence
et les opérationsau Congoconstituent des «dépenses delJOrgani-
sation »,au sens de l'article 17,~paragraph2, de la Charte.

(Signé)Gaetano MORELLI.the Emergency Force was established and the operations in the
Congo decided upon ;
(3) Consequently, the expenditures relating to the Emergency
Force and the operations in the Congo constitute "expenses of the
Organization" within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2,
of the Charter.

(Signed) Gaetano MORELLI.

Document file FR
Document Long Title

Separate Opinion of Judge Morelli (translation)

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