On The Legal Basis Of International Organizations Inheritance

Succession between international organizations means the legal activities of thetransfer of functions and ancillary rights and obligations from one internationalorganization to another. Succession between international organizations is an essentialpart in international institutional law, the major content of it including situations, legalbasis and effects of succession. Among of them, the legal basis of succession ischosen as the theme of the present thesis. The purposes of the present thesis is tostudy whether a unitary set of rules of international law governing succession betweeninternational organizations have existed or should been established. The question ofthe legal basis of succession responds that how succession between internationalorganizations happens in jure. In the present thesis, the legal basis of succession isexpounded in light of legal forms of succession and relevant theories. The legal basisof succession in international organizations clarifies relations between predecessororganizations and successor organizations, reflects legal relations between theorganizations and their member states, and interprets relative independence ofpersonality of international organizations.On the basis of the difference of validity basis in international law, the legal basisof succession between international organizations can be divided into two categories:succession based on consent and succession based on “a rule of law”(automaticsuccession). The former also can be divided into conventional succession and impliedsuccession in accordance with difference of consent forms. These two kinds of legalbasis will be elucidated in the major content of the present thesis. In the part of thethesis about succession based on consent, the thesis initially induces six direct andindirect forms referring to conventional succession between internationalorganizations, including agreement (arrangement), parallel resolutions, direct rules inthe constitutions of international organizations, resolutions, protocols and authorizedprovisions in the constitutions of international organizations. Moreover, the thesisseparates two situations of applying implied succession. In the part about successionbased “a rule of law”, the thesis, firstly, sums up theoretical disputes and scope ofapplication in regard to automatic succession. Secondly, the key legal issue related toautomatic succession is set forth in South-West Africa cases, which is about whetherthe United Nations is legally qualified to succeed the supervisory power previously exercised by the League of Nations. Simultaneously, the contentions on theinternational law brought forward by the International Court of Justice are numerated.Thirdly, the thesis states that the succession with regard to the supervisory functionbetween the United Nations and the League of Nations is legitimate, by demonstratingthe legal basis of automatic succession, which puts forward the theory named“objectivity of international organizations”.Eventually, it comes to conclusion that the legal basis of the succession betweeninternational organizations is diversified due to an enormous difference amonginternational organizations relative to states. At present, a unitary set of rules ofinternational law governing succession between international organizations did notyet exist and should not been established, and concrete forms of succession should beestablished on the basis of explicit or tacit consent of international organizations andtheir members states in different circumstances.