LibGuides: Public International Law Research: International Court of Justice

International Court of Justice

General Overview

Established in 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The Statute of the International Court of Justice, creating the court and outlining its responsibilities, is annexed to the U.N. Charter. The ICJ's primary role is to settle legal disputes submitted to it by member states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by the United Nations and other specialized agencies.

The ICJ has 15 judges elected for nine year nonrenewable terms in office.

The ICJ has two distinct types of jurisdiction: contentious jurisdiction and advisory jurisdiction. The following chart provides a brief overview of each type of jurisdiction and example cases:

Contentious Jurisdiction

There are three ways that states can accept the Court's jurisdiction:

Ad Hoc: On an ad hoc basis by special agreement for an existing dispute. See Frontier Dispute (Burk. Faso/Niger), 2013 I.C.J. 44.
Via Treaty: In accordance with a treaty in which the Court's jurisdiction is accepted for cases relating to that treaty. See LaGrand Case (Ger. v. U.S.), 2001 I.C.J. 466.
Compulsory: Under Article 36(2), which allows states to unilaterally recognize the jurisdiction of the Court.

Advisory Jurisdiction

Under Article 65(1), the Court may also give advisory opinions on any legal question brought to it by a U.N. organ or a specialized agency of the U.N. States and individuals have no standing to request advisory opinions.

As an example of this type of jurisdiction, you can review the General Assembly's 2017 request for the court to render an opinion on the legality and consequences of the United Kingdom's 1968 decolonization of Mauritius. See G.A. Res. 71/292 (June 22, 2017).

The United States originally accepted the Court's compulsory jurisdiction under Article 36(2) with a number of reservations. This acceptance was terminated in 1985 and was prompted by the U.S. government's dissatisfaction with the Court's decision in Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States), 1986 I.C.J. 14.

Online ICJ Primary Materials

Online Primary ICJ Materials

The ICJ has several resources governing its proceedings and the full text of its cases.

Jurisdiction & Procedural Materials

The ICJ has many statutes and rules that govern court proceedings. The most relevant documents are linked below:

Charter of the United Nations: signed in San Francisco in 1945, this is the foundational treaty of the United nations and is the document that created the ICJ.
Statute of the Court: This statute organizes the Court's composition and how it functions.
Rules of Court:This document supplements the general rules in the Statue in more specificity and gives necessary advice about how to comply with them.
Practice Directions: Another supplement to the rules of the court, this reflects the Court's review of its working methods.

Cases

The ICJ has a full list of its cases freely available on its website. Included in this list are pending cases, contentious cases, and advisory proceedings. Additionally, there is access to judgments, advisory opinions, and orders.

When you find a case you are interested in, you will be directed to a page that allows you to view all the latest developments for that case case including press releases, summaries, and any relevant orders. Each of these cases are available for download in either English or French.

Recommended Secondary Sources

Enhancing the Rule of Law Through the International Court of Justice by Giorgio Gaja (Editor); Jenny Grote Stoutenburg (Editor)
ISBN: 9789004273191
Publication Date: 2014-07-10
What is the current role of the International Court of Justice in contributing to the rule of law in the international community, and which future developments might enable it to have an even greater impact? These questions are explored in Enhancing the Rule of Law through the International Court of Justice, edited by Judge Giorgio Gaja and Jenny Grote Stoutenburg, Associate Legal Officer at the Court. Resulting from a conference celebrating the centenary of the Peace Palace in The Hague, the volume brings together contributions from Judges of the Court, eminent scholars and "new voices." With contributions by: Ronny Abraham, Mohamed Bennouna, Ant nio A. Can ado Trindade, Giorgio Gaja, Christopher Greenwood, Mariko Kawano, Marcelo Kohen, Chehrazad Krari-Lahya, Rosa M hrlein, Hugh Thirlway, and Andreas Zimmermann
Failings of the International Court of Justice by A. Mark Weisburd
ISBN: 9780199364060
Publication Date: 2015-12-18
Failings of the International Court of Justice critically examines the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice. Even though the legal instrument that establishes the Court provides that its judgments have no formal precedential value, those judgments are treated as authoritative byinternational lawyers throughout the world. In this book, A. Mark Weisburd argues that the Court's decisions are, in a large minority of cases, poorly reasoned and doubtful as a matter of law, and therefore ought not to be accorded the deference they receive.The book seeks to demonstrate its thesis by a careful review of the Court's errors. It begins with an examination of the law that created and empowered the Court. It then describes the body of law upon which the Court was intended to base its decisions, and the mistakes in the arguments supporting the Court's drawing legal rules from other sources.
The International Court of Justice by Hugh Thirlway
ISBN: 9780198779070
Publication Date: 2016-12-06
In recent years States have made more and more extensive use of the International Court of Justice for the judicial settlement of disputes. Despite being declared by the Court's Statute to have no binding force for States other than the parties to the case, its decisions have come toconstitute a body of jurisprudence that is frequently invoked in other disputes, in international negotiation, and in academic writing. This jurisprudence, covering a wide range of aspects of international law, is the subject of considerable ongoing academic examination; it needs however to be seen against the background, and in the light, of the Court's structure, jurisdiction and operation, and the principles applied in these domains. The purpose of this book is thus to provide an accessible and comprehensive study of this aspect of the Court, and in particular of its procedure, written by a scholar who has had unique opportunities of close observation of the Court in action.
Litigation at the International Court of Justice by Juan José Quintana
ISBN: 9789004297500
Publication Date: 2015-05-27
Litigation at the International Court of Justice provides a systematic guide to questions of procedure arising when States come before the International Court of Justice to take part in contentious litigation. Quintana's approach is primarily empirical and emphasis is put on examples derived from actual practice. This book is mainly intended to help practitioners and advisors to governments engaged in actual cases and deliberately avoids theoretical discussions, favoring a pragmatic stance that is focused not so much on what authors have to say on any given topic concerning procedure, but rather on presenting, directly "from the Court's mouth," as it were, what ICJ judges actually have done and said over the last ninety years concerning such questions.