Experiments with International Administration in the Paris Peace Treaties: A Study in International Administrative Law
Abstract
The Peace Treaties concluded at the Paris Peace Conference 1919-1920 addressed needs for neutral control of specific territories in several cases by establishing a legal framework for international administration. This was the cases of administration of the rivers Elbe and Oder by international commissions established by the Treaty of Versailles of 1920.
The Straits Commission, established by the Treaty of Sévres of 1920 to administer the Turkish Straits (the Bosporus and Dardanelles) do represent another salient example of international administration imposed to waterways. Other examples of international administration were intended to be only provisional, as was the case of the International Commission established to administer the plebiscite territory of Upper Silesia.
This article aims to deal with this new model of administration, introduced in bigger scale as consequence of the Paris Peace Treaties and with its impact to the further developments in international law.