Some Legal Aspects of the Use of Nuclear Weapons

Perspectives BRITISH jurists have not been attracted to the problems arising from the manufacture, testing, dissemination and use of nuclear weapons, with the notable exception of Professor Schwarzenberger. Two factors may explain a reluctance to take up the problems. The first is broadly political: a certain irritation with the United Nations and particularly with the doings of the General Assembly since its -expansion in the years after 1955. The General Assembly has since 1960 produced a number of resolutions trenching on legal questions, and among these the use of nuclear weapons, in a dramatic way. The topics covered have been neglected in the literature of the law and in some cases British sources have failed to report them. One may or may not be pleased with the political developments reflected in the General Assembly but, particularly for lawyers, it is hardly permissible to ignore them. The other factor is probably a feeling of despondency arising from the undoubtedly correct assumption that, where matters of high policy are concerned, the influence of international law is minimal.* As a comparative assessment of the role of the law this is incontrovertible and yet it cannot be said to justify the tacit removal of certain subjects from the agenda. Some very important aspects of constitutional and criminal law in the modern State are bound up with matters of high policy; and -constitutions are not self-enforcing. Nevertheless, lawyers do not shy away from the " high policy " areas of municipal law. Another