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Although formally an organ of the United Nations, the ICJ is an independent judicial body. It sits (full-time) at The Hague (in the Netherlands) and is composed of 15 judges, no two of whom may be nationals of the same state. They are elected for nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, voting separately. The Court has jurisdiction to decide contentious cases and to give advisory opinions. In respect of the former, only states may be parties before the Court, which has the duty of judging on the basis of international law (unless the parties request a decision ex aequo et bono). Accordingly, the ICJ is in the nature of a civil, and not a criminal, court: it does not, on behalf of the whole international society, punish wrongdoing, but resolves argument as to the rectitude of a claim made by one state on another. A party which does not have a judge of its nationality on the ICJ is entitled to choose a person to sit in that capacity. The Court decides by majority vote, and its judgment is final. Judges may issue separate or dissenting opinions. Cases are referred to the ICJ on the basis of agreement between the parties. Thus no state is obliged to go to the Court against its will. But states may agree in advance to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ either by treaty or by way of the Optional Clause procedure. Although a decision of the Court only has binding force as between the parties and in respect of that particular dispute, the judgments of the ICJ and its advisory opinions make an important contribution to the clarification and development of general international law. The ICJ is the only general organ of judicial settlement available to the international society. It has one predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice. |
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