International Court of Justice

Successor of Permanent Court of International Justice, International Court of Justice is one of the six principal organs of United Nations. International Court of Justice is located in The Hague, Netherlands. It performs the duty of adjudicating international disputes between countries. International Court of Justice is benched by 15 sitting judges who are nominated and appointed by the General Assembly and Security Council with each of them serving a term of 9 years.)

Out of the 15 seats, 5 are reserved for the permanent members of United Nations with each country getting 1 seat. The only rule for seat allocation in the International Court of Justice is that no two judges should be from the same two countries. Rest 10 seats have representations from different regions.

"Two basic pillars are necessary for the establishment of public order: the existence of proper law and the machinery for enforcing it, including the sanctions behind the law. In the inter-state sphere, order can be maintained if there is no existence of a well defined and well codified International law and an effective agency to enforce it."- Nagendra Singh (Ex President, International Court of Justice).

 

 

Article 7 of The Charter of the United Nations provides for its principal organ International Court of Justice. All members of UN are ipso facto the members of the Statue of International Court of Justice.

Article 38 provides that the court shall settle and give justice in disputes with respect to International law and shall follow the following order:

1. International conventions;

2. International Customs;

3. General principles of Law recognized by civilized nations;

4. Judicial decisions, the works of jurists, etc. as a subsidiary means for determining the rules of international law with respect to Article 59 of the Statute.

International Court of Justice is different from national courts as article 38(2) of the Statute provides that the court is not obligated to move away from applicable law but the it has the authority to do so. International Court of Justice even has the power to call upon a party to give up legal rights.

"The decision of the Court has no binding force except between the parties and in respect of that particular case."- Article 59, the Statue of International Court of Justice.

"The judgment is final and without appeal. In the event of dispute as to the meaning or scope of the judgment, the Court shall construe it upon the request of any party."- Article 60, the Statute of International Court of Justice.   
 

 

However, a regular civilian does not have access to International Court of Justice. Only states can appeal and that too only in limited circumstances. Jurisdiction of the court may vary from matter to matter as there are ways of determining jurisdiction of the court for each matter.

1. Two or more states may confer jurisdiction to the court through agreements.

2. Jurisdiction may be discovered and granted through a multilateral treaty which provides for International Court of Justice to hear any matter of dispute arising.

3. Jurisdiction may be discovered and granted through a bilateral treaty which provides for International Court of Justice to hear any matter of dispute arising.

4. Jurisdiction may be conferred upon in through an informal way.

Any party having a matter being argued in court may make any preliminary objection.

"l. Should a state consider that it has an interest of a legal nature which may be affected by the decision in the case, it may submit a request to the Court to be permitted to intervene.

2. It shall be for the Court to decide upon this request"- Article 62, The Statute of International Court of Justice.