2. Relations _inter se_ of the Members of the League not Signatories to the Protocol.
3. Relations _inter se_ of non-Members of the League.
4. Relations of the Signatories to the Protocol with the Members of the League not Signatories thereto.
5. Relations of Members of the League not Signatories to the Protocol with States non-Members of the League.
6. Relations of the Members of the League Signatories to the Protocol with States non-Members of the League.
It is proposed in this discussion first to consider the first of the above six classes, namely, the relations of the Signatories to the Protocol, _inter se_; and this discussion will proceed primarily on the assumption that the obligations of the Protocol are carried out.
In numerous places the Protocol speaks of the parties thereto as "the signatory States," _e. g._, Articles 1, 2, 3, 8, 11, etc. It is curious this is so in view of the meticulous insistence by the British Dominions at the Peace Conference, on the use, throughout the text of the Covenant generally, of the expression "Members of the League" instead of "States Members of the League."[2]
Certainly it is contemplated that ratification of the Protocol may be made on behalf of the British Dominions. Accordingly, I think that the use in the Protocol of the expression "signatory States" is probably an inadvertence, as in no proper international sense of the word are the British Dominions States, despite the fact that they have an international status under the League of Nations and even otherwise.[3]
The first point to be noticed is that under Article 2 of the Protocol there is a very general and a very sweeping obligation on the part of the Signatories not to resort to war. This is a point of the utmost importance. The obligation goes very much farther than anything in the Covenant; the language of this obligation will be examined in detail hereafter.
Before coming to that, however, it is well to look at the provisions of the Protocol regarding the settlement of international disputes. War is one method for the settlement of such disputes, and, in order to make effective the obligation of the Signatories not to resort to war, substitute methods of settlement are provided.