JUDGMENT No. 12.-UPPER
SILESIA (MINORITY SCHOOLS)
21
child for whose education he is legally responsible", but only
"liberty to declare what is the language of a pupil or child" ;
and
neither does Poland accept in its entirety the German
contention regarding exemption in the exercise of these rights
from any "verification, dispute, pressure or hindrance on the
part of the authorities".
The Court will now proceed to consider the objection to
the jurisdiction formulated by the Agent for the Polish Government in his written Rejoinder. This objection is based on the
f ollowing argument :
"It appears from the final observations of No. III of
the Reply that the German Government excludes the question
of the interpretation of Article 69 of the Geneva Convention
when it says :
"No doubt can exist that Article 131, in connection with
Article 74, regulates the question of admission to the
minority schools exhaustively and clearly for both parts
of the plebiscite district."
I t is only in the Reply that the German Government
defines the subject of the dispute so clearly, and this necessarily raises the .question of jurisdiction. Only differences
of opinion as to questions of law or fact arising out of the
articles which precede Article 72, and not out of those which
follow it, may be referred to the Court. The terms of paragraph 3 of Article 72 of the Convention are quite clear."
In regard to this objection, the Agent for the German
Government has in the first place submitted that it has been
presented too late-since
preliminary objections, according
to Article 38 of the Rules of Court, must be made at latest
in the Counter-Case. He argues that the Polish Government
might very well have raised the question of jurisdiction in
its Couater-Case, on the ground that the German Government
had not cited Article 69 in support of its interpretation. He
also denies that the German Government has adopted the
standpoint that Article 69 should not be taken into consideration, but he regards this point as of no importance since he