The Formation of the Principle Prohibiting Wars of Aggression before the Establishment of the United Nations Organization

The first international legal instruments of universal scope aiming at limiting the right of States to the war, began to develop only at the end of the XIX - early XX centuries. The author conducts a legal review of all such instruments, paying particular attention to the Charter of the League of Nations adopted in 1919, the year which included very substantial restrictions of the traditionally recognized right of States to war. Nevertheless, the logical interpretation of the Charter of the League of Nations leads to the conclusion that there is some kind of procedural subterfuge that opened broad opportunities for States to resort to war Considering the Paris Treaty for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy 1928 (the Kellogg-Briand Pact) as the first universal treaty that establishes the prohibition of wars of aggression, the author pays special attention to its significant shortcomings, one of which was that the said prohibition was concerned exclusively with war in the proper sense of the word, while other forms of use of armed force in international relations have been left outside its scope. The abovementioned circumstance necessitated the elaboration of a definition of aggression and consolidation of such a definition in an international instrument. The efforts made in this direction are also covered in this article. The author conducts a detailed study of other multilateral and bilateral treaties (in addition to the two above-mentioned), paving the way for the formation of the principle of non-use of force in international relations as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. In addition to the relevant international standards, the author also studies some doctrinal drafts, in particular those relating to the period of the emerging science of international law and showing a gradual rooting of ideas on the need to limit the right of States to war in the legal conscience

aggression, war of aggression, prohibiting wars of aggression, the Covenant of the League of Nations, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, international law, the Convention Drago-Porter, the principles of international law, international legal instruments, the right to wage war

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