Mediation

The act of some mutual friend of two contending parties, who brings them to agree, compromise, or settle their disputes. Vattel, Dr. des Gens, liv. 2, c. 18, § 328.

In International Law. States which are at war may accept an offer from a third power, or extend an offer to a third power, friendly to both, to mediate In their quarrel. It differs from intervention in being purely a friendly act. In the Middle Ages and down to the present time the Pope has been a frequent mediator. Mediation must be distinguished from good offices. The demand of good offices or their acceptance does not confer any right of mediation; 8 Encyc. Laws of Eng. 303. “A mediator is a common friend who counsels both parties with a weight proportionate to their belief in his integrity and their respect for his power, but he is not an arbitrator, to whope decisions they submit their differences and whose award is binding upon them.” Id., quoting Sir James Mackintosh. The Hague In 1899, the contracting powers recognized (Arts. 2-8) the expediency of mediation, whether at the instance of the parties in dispute or upon the initiative of a third party, and laid down certain rules governing the exercise of it. In no case is the attempt of a third party to mediate to be regarded as an unfriendly act. Mediation is to have the character of advice without any binding force upon the states at variance. Moreover, the acceptance of mediation cannot, in default of an agreement to the contrary, have the effect of interrupting mobilization or other preparations for war. II Opp. §§ 7-11.

Intervention; interposition; the act of a third person who interferes between two contending parties with a view to reconcile them or persuade them to adjust or settle their dispute. In internationai law and diplomacy, the word denotes the friendly interference of a state in the controversies of others, for the purpose, by its influence and by adjusting their difficulties, of keeping the peace in the family of nations.