he Second Committee, as embodied in the articles voted
and in the interpretative Report which accompanies them" was alleged by
M. de Martens to amount to an acceptance of the Report "comme un
commentaire interpretatif authentique des articles votes." (_Miscell._
1899, No. 1, p. 165.) The drafting Report presented to the Geneva
Conference of 1906 is merely said to have been "adopted" (Actes, p.
286); and M. Renault's Report to the Conference of London was similarly
merely "accepted," although he presented it as containing

"Un commentaire precis, degage de tout controverse, qui,
devenu commentaire officiel par l'approbation de la
Conference, soit de nature a guider les autorites diverses,
administratives, militaires, judiciaires, qui pourront avoir
a l'appliquer." (_Miscell._ 1909, No. 5, p. 344.)

It would seem that in each of these cases the adoption of the Report,
and even a suggestion or two for a change in its phraseology, amounted
to nothing more than an expression of opinion on the part of the
Delegates to the Conference that the Report contained explanations which
had satisfied themselves, and might satisfy their Governments, that the
Convention which they were about to forward to those Governments might
safely be accepted.

So far as Governments are concerned, the adoption of a Report by their
Delegates is _res inter alios acta_. An "authentic interpretation" of a
contract can be given only by the parties to it, who, in the case of a
treaty, are the States concerned. If these States desire to give to the
report of a drafting committee the force of an authentic interpretation
of their contract, they can surely do so only by something amounting to
a supplementary convention. Writers upon international law naturally
throw but little light upon questions to which the somewhat novel
practice of argumentative drafting Reports has given rise; but I may
cite Professor Ullmann, of Vienna, as saying:--

"Eine authentische Interpretation kann nur die durch
Kontrahenten selbst, in einem gemeinschaftlichen, ihren
Willen ausser Zweifel setzenden Acte (einem Nachtrags-oder
Erlauterungsvertrage), erfolgen" (Volkerrecht, p. 282);

and Professor Fiore, of Naples, to the effect that what is called
"authentic interpretation" is not

"interpretazione propriamente detta, ma una dichiarazione di
quello che fu gia concordato, o un nuovo trattato" (Diritto
In