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1959] ADJUDICATION TN INTERNATIONAlJ RIVER DrSPUTES 49 N eo,,) ~1'1 OJ with the proper protection of the interests of a co-riparian. It should be borne in mind that the Tribunal, in finding that Spanish interests would not be adversely affected by the proposed French project, noted that only one fourth of the supplies of the waters crossing the border would be affected by the project, that the waters to be withdrawn from the basin were to be replaced in toto, and that the co-riparian would have the right to have agents with consular privileges present at all times to assure, that the replacement equaled the withdrawal. It should also be kept in mind that the Tribunal further noted the absence of any charge that the quality or the temperature of the supplies to be substituted would be unsatis- factory. Had the Spanish Government shown that the quality or tempera- ture of the water would be unsatisfactory, the Tribunal observed, Spanish consent to the change might have been required." " .. " At a time when the forces of law and order need ever increasing recog- nition in the international arena, the notion that states willing to submit international river disputes to adjudication are ill advised has a strange ring indeed. For those who are bent on promoting the rule of law in international relations, the cry of inadequacy of courts in this field betrays a nostalgia for a fast-fading conception of international law in which naked power holds greater sway than recognized principles of justice. The constructive role of adjudieation of interstate disputes in promoting agreement cannot reasonably be denied. The obligation to respond be- fore an impartial court has induced agreement by promoting reasonable- ness in an area of state relations involving interests which are no less vital to one riparian state than to another. The analogy for nations is com- plete. Claims stubbornly maintained by a riparian nation unwilling to test them before an impartial tribunal are the cause of frustrations and delays. So long as a riparian proposing a change or one opposing the change is unwilling to subject the validity of its position to third-party determinations the soundness of its position is suspect. In a broader community perspective, the principles of procedure and substance weighed and applied by impartial tribunals, called upon to decide live controversies, offer promising aids for the solution by agreement of other water disputes. This contribution of adjudication is far from im- ponderable or insignificant. It has already shown its vitality within federated countries where a great number of compacts have been fashioned upon principles forged by judicial decisions. It will be increasingly felt and appreciated at the international level as the example set by France and Spain is followed generally. "Ibid. at 38; '>~' ,',,' . ,':;"-::' > .1;-'" '.',