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   AJ Sadauskas (ajsadauskas@aus.social)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Aug-2023 23:21:31 JST AJ Sadauskas

   in reply to

   • Tom Theuns

   @TomTheuns @academicchatter @histodons You might find this interesting.

   Note the phrase used here to describe the League of Nations: "A guardian of treaties".

   https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ad1mAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=%22guardian+of+treaties%22+%22league+of+nations%22&source=bl&ots=k0VZourEdE&sig=ACfU3U1jIQA81RpiPCWNJbC3GHWgP7tAbw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjm5rTLhoKBAxUGslYBHUvtAC0Q6AF6BAgqEAI#v=onepage&q=%22guardian%20of%20treaties%22%20%22league%20of%20nations%22&f=false

   It might be fruitful looking further into whether/ how the phrase was used to describe other intergovernmental bodies and treaty organisations?

   • Embed this notice
     Tom Theuns (tomtheuns@akademienl.social)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Aug-2023 23:21:33 JST Tom Theuns

     I'm looking for the origin of the phrase "Guardian of the Treaties", used to describe the European Commission. I've found a reference in a 1965 speech by Walter Hallstein. Does anyone know of an earlier reference?

     @academicchatter @histodons

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     simsa03 (simsa03@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 30-Aug-2023 01:48:38 JST simsa03

     in reply to

     • Tom Theuns
     Interesting question that kept me thinking. As far as I can see the term (as applied to laws, norms, or constitutions) appears prominentely first in the book "Der Hüter der Verfassung" (1929) (transl. as "The Guardian of the Constitution") by the influential German legal scholar Carl Schmitt. It's about who is responsible for the "defense" of the Weimar constitution: the president of the Republic himself or a constitutional court. But obviously, the term and concepot ist far older and appears, e.g., in pre-Justinian Roman law requiring guardians in the form of tutors to be installed for children.
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     simsa03 (simsa03@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 30-Aug-2023 06:18:25 JST simsa03

     • Tom Theuns
     I understood that. You ask when was the first time the European Commission has been called a "Guardian of the Treaties". I don't know the answer to that but I think that Schmitt's book-title may have played a role in it (esp. in its english translation), that is: A term used in constitutaionl law may have been borrowed to describe the E.C. Perhaps seen as a process of borrowing a term may provide further clues for your research.
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