nts on their sovereignty and an intrusion into their internal affairs, and, therefore, brushed it aside. Every Central and East European state concerned set forth reservations to the drafts and expressed their worries. The great powers managed to put off the resistance, the small-scale "rebellion" that broke out on 31 May 1919, and persuade the states concerned to sign the minorities treaties elaborated for them.
Among the issues that emerged during the dispute of the Central and Eastern European and Western powers, we encounter the question as to what the reason of the relentless and rather dismissive behaviour of the Central and Eastern European states was: did they not want to sign the treaties at all or, in case they did, would they not want to fulfil their obligations deriving from the treaties? This problem, which, unfortunately, gained significance later on, seemed to be the key issue of the entire minority protection system. It became perceptible that the realisation of the hopes attached to the implementation and effectiveness of minority protection obligations at the time of their formulation, would always depend exclusively on the actual political atmosphere. It was not evident at the end of 1919 whether the system of the evolving regulations of minority law would be enough; what effect would the policies of the new states and the behaviour of the minorities in concern would produce; whether this system would be able to have the ideals of national tolerance and national equality accepted along or counter to the victory of the ideal of the nation-state.
2. Substantive Minority Legislation Adopted with the Assistance of the League of Nations
2.1. Categorisation of Legislation on the Protection of Minorities Adopted Under the Aegis of the League of Nations
The sources of itemised international minority law under the protection of the League of Nations include for the most part bi- or multilateral agreements, certain contractual provisions and declarations. According to several authors, for example Ernő Flachbarth and Arthur Balogh, these are to be considered primary sources. Besides these, they identify secondary sources as well, which include the resolutions adopted in order that the international contractual obligations undertaken with the purpose of the protection of minorities under the aegis of the League of Nations could be supervised and that the states could be held accountable. These, accordingly, include rules of procedure and regulations that ensure compliance with the treaties or concern the operation of the League of Nations and its Council. Under a broader interpretation, they can thus be regarded secondary legal sources. However, with regard to the principle on which I will base the use of the "substantive and procedural law" expression further on, I deem the use of the primary-secondary division unnecessary. For that matter, in the case of the minority protection system developed under the aegis of the League of Nations, the substantive-procedural and primary-secondary divisions of minority legislation can be considered synonymic, since it is on the basis of the mandate of primary, that is, substantive law (international treaties concerning the protection of minorities) that secondary, that is, procedural law can be elaborated by the League of Nations, as international organisation.
Let us now look at the classification of the legal sources of minority protection created under the aegis of the League of Nations:
1. General treaties that aim at the protection of minorities;
- minorities treaties;
- relevant chapters of the peace treaties;
2. special treaties that aim at the protection of minorities;
3. minority declarations.
2.2. Minorities Protection Treaties Signed Between the Allied and Associated Powers and the New or Territorially Expanded States
These were the following:
1. Treaty of peace with Poland [Polish Minorities Treaty], signed in Versailles on 28 June 1919: Articles 1-12 under the protection of the League of Nations subsequent to 13 February 1920.
2. Treaty between the Principal Alli