Remarks on Greeting Participants in the World Conference on Law.

Mr. Rhyne, distinguished guests from around the world, ladies and gentlemen:

First, it is delightful to have you here in the Rose Garden and to have you as the guests of the White House. It is a great privilege and pleasure for me to say a few words to you this afternoon--a great gathering of world jurists.

Never before in the history of mankind has the importance of law in our society received such overwhelming support. And of course, as I look around and see all of you men and women, I commend you for the great dedication that you have individually as well as collectively. And your presence here in Washington for the seventh World Conference on Law not only represents the largest meeting ever in the history of the international legal profession but I think demonstrates very vividly a significant cooperation so necessary to world survival.

The languages we speak and the political and religious beliefs that we have obviously can be very different. But I am confident that we share a very common conviction that adherence to law is fundamental to a stable world and to a world society that has stability and, of course, also to world peace.

The world cannot afford to be without just laws, nor can nations exist without adequate enforcement of those laws. I am encouraged by your presence in our National Capital for the World Law Conference.

We know, individually as well as collectively, that laws do not exist in a vacuum. They must be part of our daily lives, the existence of our communities. And your efforts as judges, scholars, and legal practitioners are very vital to the end result that we all seek.

Laws, I know from my 25 years in the Congress of the United States, are proposed, discussed, legislated, and adjudicated by men and by women. Humanity, we all know, is not perfect. But our potential for achieving a viable and a just system of laws across the world determines the quality of human life.

This World Law Conference recognizes the need to eliminate the discriminatory legal barriers confronting women throughout the world.

That is a line my wife insisted on. [Laughter]

Your efforts to promote human equality under the law, as well as other issues, ranging from the role of multinational companies to the law of the sea, demonstrate very properly and, again, very vividly that you are addressing the major issues that confront people and nations in the globe as a whole. I commend the serious work that you are undertaking. I hope and trust that your enormous contributions to the international lawmaking process will be significantly advanced by your endeavors here in our Capital.

I congratulate this international law body whose vision, whose imagination

has not only made this conference possible but has demonstrated the ability of peoples of all nations to work together harmoniously, I trust, for the common good. I wish you success in this wonderful undertaking, and I welcome you again to the Rose Garden, to the White House, to the Nation's Capital, and to our country.

Thank you very much.