SAKTHI SAI LAW ACADEMY

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

1. Basic Facts

• Established: 1945 by the UN Charter; began functioning in 1946.
• Replaced: Permanent Court of International Justice (1922–1946).
• Seat: The Hague, Netherlands (Article 22, Statute of ICJ).
• Official Languages: English and French (Article 39, ICJ).
• Statute: 70 Articles divided into 5 Chapters.
• Composition

• Judges: 15 (Article 3, ICJ).
• Term: 9 years; one-third retire every 3 years (Article 13, Statute of ICJ).
• President & Vice President: Appointed for 3 years (Article 21, ICJ).
• First female judge: Rosalyn Higgins.
• Current President: Joan E. Donoghue (USA).
• Membership

• Automatic Members: All 193 UN member states (Article 93(1), UN Charter).
• Non-UN States: Can join via Article 93(2) procedure.

Indian Judges at ICJ

Name	Tenure
Dalveer Bhandari	Since 27 April 2012
Raghunandan Swarup Pathak	1989–1991
Nagendra Singh	1973–1988
Sir Benegal Rau	1952–1953

• Jurisdiction

• Article 34: Only states may be parties before the Court.
• Article 36:
  • Voluntary jurisdiction (36(1))
  • Ad hoc jurisdiction (36(1))
  • Compulsory jurisdiction (36(2))
  • Transferred jurisdiction (36(5))
• Article 41: Interim measures
• Article 59: Decisions binding only between parties; not precedent.
• Article 62: Intervention by a state not party to a case.
• Article 65: Advisory jurisdiction (Chapter IV)

• Sources of International Law
• Article 38: Lists the sources of international law applied by the ICJ.

• Election of ICJ Judges (Articles 4–10)

1. Each state party to the UN Charter forms a nomination group.
2. The group includes members/jurists of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
3. Each group may nominate up to 4 candidates, maximum 2 of their own nationality.

• Submission of Names:
  Candidate names must be sent to the UN Secretary-General within a fixed duration.
• Voting:
  • Both General Assembly (GA) and Security Council (SC) vote simultaneously but separately.
  • A candidate is elected when they receive an absolute majority in both organs.
  • Voting may take several rounds until majority is reached.
  • No distinction between permanent and non-permanent members of SC during voting.

• Qualifications of ICJ Judges (Article 2)

• Must have high moral character.
• Must meet qualifications for appointment as highest judicial officers in their respective states, or
• Must be a jurisconsult of recognized competence in international law.
• Limitations of ICJ

1. No criminal jurisdiction: Cannot try individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity; not a criminal court.
2. No suo moto powers: Can only hear cases when states request; cannot initiate proceedings.
3. Consent-based jurisdiction: Cannot rule on disputes without consent of the states concerned.
4. Limited enforcement: No full separation of powers; permanent members of SC can veto enforcement, even if they had consented.

• Jurisdiction of ICJ

1. Contentious Jurisdiction
   • Settles legal disputes submitted by states.
   • Only states can appear; international organizations or individuals cannot.
   • Jurisdiction requires state consent.
   • Judgments are final, binding, and without appeal.
   • Compulsory Jurisdiction (Optional Clause, Article 36):
     • States may declare that they recognize ICJ jurisdiction ipso facto and without special agreement with other consenting states.
2. Advisory Jurisdiction
   • ICJ can provide legal opinions at the request of UN organs or specialized agencies.
   • Doctrine of Forum Prorogatum: No state can be compelled to submit a dispute to ICJ without its consent.