ISO 27c
                                                    November 21, 1944
 
 TRANSITION FROM THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 
TO THE NEW INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
 
       Establishment of a new general international or-
ganization in place of the League of Nations will raise 
three important problems respecting the League of 
Nations: (1) how the League of Nations may be legally 
terminated in favor of the new organization; (2) how 
its properties and any of its functions, aside from 
those vested in the League by separate agreements, 
may be transferred to the new organizations, and (3) 
how the functions vested in the League by separate 
agreements may also be transferred. It is desirable 
that these problems be clarified and, if possible, 
steps be taken to avoid uncertainty and confusion when 
the new organization is established.
 
       The problem arises because the Covenant of the 
League of Nations still constitutes a binding obliga-
tion upon the states members of the League, and unless 
the League is terminated concurrently with the estab-
lishment of the new organization these states may be 
faced with conflicting legal obligations to two general 
international organizations. Moreover, there would 
exist some possibility that a few states might endeavor 
to maintain the League of Nations, in which event there 
would be two organizations endeavoring to operate in 
the same field. Furthermore, there might be confusion 
with regard to the legal, status of several hundred 
treaties which vest certain powers and functions in 
the League.
 
II.  RELATION OF THE
      UNITED STATES
      PROBLEM
 
     The termination of the League of Nations is not a
matter of primary concern to the United States in view
 
                                                       of