ii THE LEGALITY OF OCCUPYING GERMANY 55

only provision for occupation in the event of defaultis that contained in Article 430. This Article, whichprovides for re-occupation of the left bank in theevent of default, would have been entirely pointlessand otiose if the French view were correct. Indeedthe theory, that at any time during the next thirtyyears any Ally can invade any part of Germany onthe ground that Germany has not fulfilled everyletter of the Treaty , is on the face of it unreasonable.

In any case, however, §§ 17, 18 of Annex II. ofthe Eeparation Chapter only operate after a specificprocedure has been set on foot by the ReparationCommission. It is the duty of the ReparationCommission to give notice of the default to each ofthe interested Powers, including presumably theUnited States , and to recommend action. If thedefault is voluntary—there is no provision as to whois to decide this—then the paragraphs in questionbecome operative. There is no warrant here forisolated action by a single Ally. And indeed theReparation Commission have never so far put thisprocedure in operation.

If, on the other hand, Germany is alleged to bein default under some other Chapter of the Treaty ,then the Allies have no recourse except to the Leagueof Nations ; and they are bound to bring into opera-tion Article 17 of the Covenant, which provides forthe case of a dispute between a member of the Leagueand a non-member. That is to say, apart from