The system of the pacific settlement of disputes contained in the United Nations Charter - confirmed in 1970 in the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States - is based on agreement between the parties on both the method to be applied and the acceptance of its results. From the juridical point of view states are free in this system to establish in advance their choice of the appli cation of one or more methods to a dispute and their willingness to accept the result in respect of all or certain groups of disputes or only to...