30. The general discussion by the First Committee of the subject of the acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of International Justice took place at the third plenary meeting on the 11th September. The British Delegate reminded the Committee that the views of His Majesty's Government had already been explained in the Assembly in regard to the optional clause. The Prime Minister had then stated that the British Government wished to sign a clause of this kind, subject to its being clearly drafted. The British Delegate proceeded to discuss the position of the British Empire supposing that it accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court, and was then forced, in support of the Covenant, to go to war at sea. Sea warfare, he said, inevitably brought a belligerent into sharp conflict with the nationals of foreign Powers carrying on trade with the enemy State. The British Empire might therefore find itself forced to support before the International Court the legality of action taken at the request of the League itself. The British Delegation therefore asked the Committee to consider whether it would be possible, either by amendment of article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute of the Court or by the admission of a reservation acceptable to other Members of the League, to exclude from the acceptance of that clause disputes which arose out of action taken, either in accordance with the Covenant, or at the request, or with the sanction, of the Council of the League. {232} 31. The French Delegation were content with the idea of such a reservation, and both the Belgian and Brazilian Delegations stated that they had no objection to it. The delegate of Brazil, however, said he would prefer to proceed by way of a reservation rather than by any modification of the text. Though the representatives of the Netherlands and of Sweden were slightly more critical, it became apparent that no real objection would be raised to the British reservation. 32. The Belgian Delegate suggested even going further still and excluding, when accepting the optional clause, the whole of sub-heading (_b_), which relates to questions of international law. The effect of this would be to exclude all questions of international law where that law has not yet been codified, as where it has been codified the dispute becomes one of the interpretation of a Treaty. This, the British Delegation thought, would be going too far. It would deprive the International Court of the power to build up a case law in the international field. It would, moreover, have gone further than the Delegation felt necessary, because it was only in the field of established international law, where there are two distinct schools of thought--the continental and the Anglo-Saxon--that the difficulties referred to by the British Delegate would arise.