  The Hubble law, widely considered the first observational basis for the
expansion of the universe, may in the future be known as the Hubble-Lema\^itre
law. This is what the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union
recommended at its recent meeting in Vienna. However, the resolution in favour
of a renamed law is problematic in so far as concerns its arguments based on
the history of cosmology in the relevant period from about 1927 to the early
1930s. A critical examination of the resolution reveals flaws of a non-trivial
nature. The purpose of this note is to highlight these problems and to provide
a better historically informed background for the voting among the union's
members, which in a few months' time will result in either a confirmation or a
rejection of the decision made by the General Assembly.
