The generally accepted view that the three-mile limit originated from the cannon-shot rule, has recently been challenged by Mr. Wyndham Walker in an article on “Territorial Waters: the Cannon Shot Rule.”

The Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem (of Malta)–a charitable organization dating back to about a thousand years ago, and still in existence –received Papal recognition as an autonomous organization in 1113, having previously been admitted as such by the King of Jerusalem. Shortly afterwards, the Order was granted its first supranational statute. From that viewpoint the institution, the principal aim of which was, and still continues to be, to assist the sick and the poor on an international basis, can be regarded as the oldest–after the Holy See— international organization recorded in history. Does not the XIVth-century chronicle of the Masters of the Order refer to "our lords, the sick," their motto for centuries having been "Infirmes et infirmas benigne reci, pere"? In this respect the Order of St. John can be regarded as the forerunner of the Bed Cross with the object of giving assistance through charity to human beings; from the outset the members of the Order founded innumerable institutions and hospitals, including those in the field, and, during military campaigns in more recent times, sanitary trains and hospital ships.

The Agreement which was concluded between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany on September 10, 1952, and went into force on March 27, 1953, is in some ways unique in the history of diplomacy. It is a treaty between two states which do not entertain diplomatic relations and do not even intend to establish such relations for the purpose of carrying into effect their mutual contractual undertakings. Furthermore, it is a treaty between states of which one was not in existence as a state and the other was not yet constituted in its present legal form when the events giving rise to the payment of reparations occurred. These are the somewhat unusual circumstances in which the Agreement was concluded, and they must be borne in mind when considering some of its features which, at first sight, might seem strange. A short account of the history preceding its conclusion may therefore be of assistance in providing the correct perspective.