Here it should be said that the final words of this Article 12 mention "the Members of the League and the other signatory States." These words imply the possibility of States signatory to the Protocol which are non-Members of the League. As pointed out above,[11] no such possibility exists, in my opinion. Even if such a theoretic possibility existed, it would be absurd to suppose that any State would sign the Protocol, with obligations going beyond those of the Covenant, while still being outside the privileges of the Covenant; however, the question is of no special importance here. The main sanctions of the Protocol, _as among the Parties to the Protocol_, may be thus summed up: a war of aggression is an international crime; a Signatory which either avows itself an aggressor or refuses an armistice after hostilities have broken out, commits this crime; and accordingly the other Signatories, upon the call of the Council, unite in the defence of the Signatory which is not the aggressor, according to their respective capacities; which means that if and to the extent that they are able to do so, they contribute by force to the defence against the aggression, as well as by economic and financial measures. But in view of the other agreements of the Protocol regarding pacific settlement of disputes and its covenants against war, the chief sanctions of the Protocol would never come into play against a Signatory, unless that State finally decided to defy the public opinion of the world and to make into a scrap of paper its own solemn written pledge. [1] Annex C, p. 156 at p. 196. [2] If there were two parties to the conflict, either one or both might be aggressor. See Article 11 of the Protocol. [3] I think this means upon _all_ the Signatories. The system of the Protocol is flexible as to the _extent_ to which the Sanctions are to be applied by a particular signatory; but all Signatories come under the same legal obligation. [4] On October 4, 1921. Official Journal, October, 1921, Special Supplement No. 6, p. 24. [5] See League of Nations Official Journal, October, 1921, Special Supplement No. 6, pp. 14-15, 24-26, also October, 1924, Special Supplement No. 21, p. 9. [6] Except as to the possibilities of Article 10 of the Covenant, as to which see _infra_, p. 84, _et seq._ [7] The debates in the Third Committee of the Fifth Assembly are of interest in this regard. [8] The French is "engagements." [9] Annex C, p. 156 at p. 197, _et seq._ [10] by unanimous vote. [11] p. 10, _et seq._ {82} CHAPTER XIII. SEPARATE DEFENSIVE AGREEMENTS.