University of Virginia Library

Dillard Nominated By U.S.
To Serve U.N.'s World Court

By Donn Kessler
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Hardy C. Dillard, former dean of the
Law School and currently James Monroe
Professor of Law, has been nominated by
the United States to be one of the 15
justices to sit on the International Court
of Justice at the Hague. The nomination
to the court, which is the judicial body of
the United Nations, is regarded as one of
the highest honors and responsibilities in
international law.

Mr. Dillard was notified in July that
the United States National Group in the
Permanent Court of Arbitration had
nominated him and four other lawyers
from foreign nations to fill the five seats that
will be vacated this fall.

Unconfirmed

Mr. Dillard's nomination still has to be
confirmed by the United Nations Security
Council and General Assembly this fall.
Confirmation seems relatively assured. The
United Nations has traditionally kept one
representative from the United States on the
court. If confirmed, Mr. Dillard will succeed
Philip Jessup as this nation's representative to
the court in February.

Mr. Dillard will not be the first member of
the University community to serve on the
court. John Bassett Moore, a Columbia Law
School graduate, who also attended the
University as a graduate student, was the first
United States representative to the Permanent
Court of International Justice in 1922. The
International Court of Justice succeeded that
court in 1945. It is an organ of the United
Nations and serves to decide cases submitted to
it by member nations and to render advisory
opinions to the Security Council, the General
Assembly, and the specialized agencies of the
United Nations.

Mr. Dillard, who attended the University
Law School from 1924-7, has had a distinguished
career in the field of law. He was a
Fulbright Lecturer at Oxford in 1953 and a
Carnegie Lecturer at the Hague Academy of
International Law in 1957.

Mr. Dillard also served as a committee
member for UNESCO and served on the 1968
Committee to Revise the Constitution of
Virginia. Mr. Dillard was President of the
American Society of International Law from
1962-3.

When he retired as dean in 1968, both the
Virginia Law Review and the Virginia Journal
of International Law dedicated issues in his
honor to which many scholars contributed.

Significant Work

Mr. Dillard feels that while the importance
of the work of the Court should not be
exaggerated it is yet one of the critically
significant institutions established since World
War I.

"Its importance is not to be judged by the
number of cases and advisory opinions it
renders," he declared, "but by their tendency
to reduce tension and to siphon off issues
which make a later political settlement .
Some of the cases," he continued, "are very
complex and the records are voluminous. The
judgement and dissenting opinions in the South
West Africa Case, for example, ran to over 500
pages and the record of the Barcelona Traction
Case runs to some 17,000 printed pages."

Absorb Conflict

Speaking more broadly, Mr. Dillard said,
"too many people think you solve conflict as if
it were an algebraic equation. You don't solve
it, you absorb it and the Court helps to do that.
Of course, we need to build up confidence in
the adjudicative process. It may not be perfect,
but it is frequently better than any alternative."

When asked about how he felt about leaving
the University, Mr. Dillard reviewed his life at
the University. "I've been here off and on for
fifty years. I first came here as a student in
1919. Of course, I shall miss teaching and
contact with students. I guess I would rather
talk than listen. I think teaching and research
beat any other kind of job no matter what it is.
But you see, I've been at it a long time and now
comes a chance to gain a fresh experience and
an opportunity to generate new insights. Both
Mrs. Dillard and I are looking forward
to the experience.

"But I expect to come back to the
University now and then to haunt the
premises."