Guide to the Herbert Whittaker Briggs Legal Papers,
1940-1986

Herbert Whittaker Briggs was Professor of government and international law at Cornell University.

The Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited was a Canadian holding company incorporated in Toronto in 1911, which, through its various subsidiaries, supplied the major part of electricity requirements in Catalonia, Spain. The case was brought before the International Court of Justice for reparation for damage claimed to have been caused to a number of Belgian nationals, shareholders in the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, by the conduct of various organs of the Spanish State in relation to that company and to other companies of its group.

Background documents, court transcripts, other legal documents, notes, correspondence, and maps relating to cases in which Professor Briggs was involved or consulted. Cases include the Barcelona Traction Company case, a border dispute between Honduras and Nicaragua, 1960; a dispute between Chile and Argentina over the interpretation of the Boundary Treaty of July 23, 1881 relating to the Beagle Channel, 1973-1975; two cases involving delimitation of the Contintental Shelf between Libya and Tunisia, ca. 1978-1981, and between Libya and Malta, ca. 1983-1986; a case between the United States and Canada over the delimitation of the maritime boundary in the Gulf of Maine area; arbitration between the United Kingdom and French governments on the delimitation of the Continental Shelf (in the English Channel). Also, working documents for the United Nations Conference on the Law of Treaties held in Vienna, 1968.

Also, material on the 1964 National Conference of Commissioners, New York State Commission of Uniform State Laws (1962), drafts of Uniform Commercial Code prior to 1952 and 1960, and preparation for introduction of the code in new York.