The Organizational and Functional Framework as Devised by the League of Nations for the Purpose of Controlling the Manufacture of, and Trade and Traffic in, Drugs

Abstract

Article 23, paragraph (c) of the League Covenant entrusted the League with the task of general supervision over the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs. Article 2 of the Covenant provided that “the action of the League under the Covenant shall be effected through the instrumentality of an Assembly and of a Council, with a permanent Secretariat.” Article 3, paragraph 3 of the Covenant gave the League Assembly wider powers by authorizing it to “deal at its meetings with any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world.” Article 4, paragraph 4 of the Covenant authorized the League Council also to “deal at its meetings with any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world.” The spheres of activities of the Assembly and the Council under Articles 3 and 4 of the Covenant would appear to be identical, but their activities were not the same in nature. As there was no definite line of demarcation between the functions of the Assembly and the Council,³ it cannot, therefore, be said that the Council performed executive functions only;⁴ on the contrary, more often than not, the functions of these two bodies overlapped.⁵ It is to be borne in mind that “the more conspicuous events of the League history took place against the background of a broad and complex system of international co-operation in economic, social and humanitarian activities, functioning under the general authority of the Assembly and the Council.”⁶