attempt to carve out any special protection to perpetuate gender discrimination in the distribution of other aristocratic titles. The Committee’s stated reasons for dismissing the communication of Ms. Carrión Barcáiztegui, in her claim to inheritance of the title of the Marquise of Tabalosos, can give no comfort to the state party. In rejecting her petition, as inadmissible ratione materiae, the Committee writes that hereditary titles of nobility are “an institution that … lies outside the underlying values behind the principles of equality before the law and nondiscrimination protected by article 26.” This cryptic sentence could be read to suggest that the continuation of hereditary titles is itself incompatible with the Covenant. One hopes that the future jurisprudence of the Committee will give appropriate weight to the desire of many countries to preserve the memory of individuals and families who figured prominently in the building of the national state. It is not surprising that a state party should see the inheritance of the throne as posing a unique question, without intending to perpetuate any broader practice of placing women last in line. Indeed, we have been reminded by the incumbent King of Spain that even a singular and traditional institution such as royalty may be adapted to norms of equality. King Juan Carlos recently suggested that succession to the throne of Spain should be recast. Under Juan Carlos’ proposal, after his eldest son completes his reign, the son’s first child would succeed to the throne, regardless of whether the child is a male or a female. In an age when many women have served as Heads of State, this suggestion should seem commendable and unremarkable. The use of titles can be adapted to take account of the legal equality of women. Even within the tradition of a title, a change of facts may warrant a change in discriminatory rules. For example, in an age of national armies, it is no longer expected that a titleholder must have the ability to fight on the battlefield. (Admittedly, Jeanne d’Arc might suggest a wider range of reference as well.) In its judgement of 20 June 1987, upholding the equal claim of female heirs to non-royal titles, the Supreme Court of Spain referenced the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well as Article 14 of the 1978 Spanish Constitution. In its future deliberations, Spain may also wish to reference General Comment No. 18 of the Human Rights Committee, which states that Article 2 of the Covenant “prohibits discrimination in law or in fact in any field regulated and protected by public authorities.” And it is worth recalling that under the rules of the Committee, the disposition of any particular communication does not constitute a formal precedent in regard to any other communication or review of country reports. In its accession to modern human rights treaties, Spain recognized the difficulties posed by automatic male preference. Spain ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 27 July 1977. Spain also approved the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on 16 December 1983. In the latter accession, Spain made a single reservation that has importance here. Spain noted that the Convention shall not affect the constitutional provisions concerning succession to the Spanish crown. This unique protection for royal succession was not accompanied by any other similar reservation concerning lesser titles. The hereditary title in question here has been represented by the State party as “devoid of any material or legal content” and purely nomen honoris (see paragraphs 4.4 and 4.8 supra). Thus, it is important to note the limits of the Committee’s instant decision. The Committee’s views should not be taken as sheltering any discriminatory rules of inheritance where real or chattel property is at stake. In addition, these views do not protect discrimination concerning traditional heritable offices that may, in some societies, still carry significant powers of political or judicial decision-making. We sit as a monitoring committee for an international covenant, and cannot settle broad rules in disregard of these local facts. Spain did not make any similar reservation to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1977. Still, good practice would suggest that Spain should be given the benefit of the same reservation in the application of the Covenant, in light of the Committee’s later interpretation of Article 26 as an independent guarantee of equal protection of the law. But the bottom line is that, even with this reservation, Spain did not 34