2 Legal Powers, 2.1 Interpretation of the Greco-Turkish Agreement of 1 December 1926, Permanent Court of International Justice, Advisory Opinion, [1926] Publ. PCIJ, Series B, No. 16

Subject(s):

Judges — Membership of international organizations — International organizations, practice and procedure — Responsibility of international organizations

In 1923, Greece and Turkey entered into the Treaty of Lausanne to regulate the orderly transfer of Greek and Turkish populations displaced by the First World War. The treaty established a Mixed Arbitral Tribunal and a Mixed Commission to deal with property issues ensuing from the transfer of populations. However, a dispute arose in the implementation of the treaty which was ultimately referred to the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) for an advisory opinion. In its decision, the PCIJ sketched some of the main features of the international legal personality of international organizations and articulated the basic elements of the implied powers doctrine, thereby initiating the path towards consolidating the role of international organizations as international actors in their own right with powers beyond those strictly attributed to them by their establishing treaties. Some authors have assessed the performance of the Court in critical terms.