This entry contains information applicable to United States law only. The World Court, which is officially called the International Court of Justice (ICJ), is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The court is virtually the same institution as its predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice, which was established at the direction of the League of Nations and functioned from 1922 to 1946. The court is located at The Hague, Netherlands.
The court consists of fifteen judges, no two of the same nationality, selected for nine-year terms by the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council, voting separately. Five are chosen every three years. As a group, the judges are supposed to represent the principal forms of civilization and the major legal systems of the world. Decisions of the court are by a simple majority of those voting, with nine constituting a quorum, although smaller panels of judges may be formed in special cases. In practice, the full court usually hears most of its cases. The official languages of the court are English and French.
The Statute of the Court, which sets forth its organization, competence, and procedure, was adopted in 1945 as an annex to the U.N. Charter. Therefore, all members of the U.N. are automatically parties to the statute. Other states may become parties upon conditions determined by the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council. Switzerland, San Marino, and Liechtenstein have become parties to the statute.
The function of the World Court is to resolve disputes between sovereign states. Disputes may be placed before the court by parties upon conditions prescribed by the U.N. Security Council. No state, however, may be subject to the jurisdiction of the court without the state's consent.
Consent may be given by express agreement at the time the dispute is presented to the court, by prior agreement to accept the jurisdiction of the court in particular categories of cases, or by treaty provisions with respect to disputes arising from matters covered by the treaty.
Under article 36 of the court's statute, a state may declare in advance its acceptance of the jurisdiction of the court. The declaration may be unconditional or on condition that other parties to the dispute also accept the same obligation. States may make reservations that limit the extent or effect of their declarations of acceptance of jurisdiction. The United States, for example, has severely limited its own acceptance by a reservation that excepts all matters that the United States chooses to regard as within its domestic jurisdiction.
Once the court has acquired jurisdiction of a case, its decision is legally binding upon the parties. There is no provision for appeal. Once states have accepted jurisdiction of the court and permitted a case to go to judgment, they have usually complied with the decision. Under article 94 of the U.N. Charter, if a party does not comply with the obligations imposed on it by the court, the prevailing party may seek recourse from the Security Council. In 1984, in Nicaragua v. United States, the United States temporarily withdrew its prior acceptance of compulsory jurisdiction in disputes relating to Central America. Despite the withdrawal, the court proceeded with the case and decided on a 12-3 vote that the United States had breached international law by seeking the overthrow of the Marxist Nicaraguan regime through the funding of counterrevolutionary groups. The court ruled that the United States should pay Nicaragua reparations, but the United States blocked Nicaragua's attempt to appeal to the U.N. Security Council for satisfaction of the judgment.
The court may render advisory opinions on legal questions when requested to do so by the General Assembly, the Security Council, or other U.N. organs or agencies. For example, the World Health Organization and the General Assembly requested advisory opinions on the legality of nuclear weapons under international law. The World Court held hearings, in which forty-five nations testified. It issued an advisory opinion in July 1996, which held that it was illegal for a nation to threaten nuclear war.
The court is used infrequently, which suggests that most states prefer to handle their disputes by political means or by recourse to tribunals where the outcome may be more predictable or better controlled by the parties.
The first international war crime trial in fifty years was convened by a three-judge panel of the World Court in 1996. The panel heard evidence of war crimes committed by Dusan Tadic, a Bosnian Serb accused of taking part in a systematic reign of terror in which he committed crimes against humanity in connection with systematic attacks against the non-Serb population of Bosnia. In May 1997 Tadic was convicted of the war crimes. However, the Bosnian Serb leaders who orchestrated the war crimes remained free and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the court.
