The International Court of Justice

In one line

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, composed of fifteen independent judges, open only to States in contentious cases, with jurisdiction resting on consent, and its judgments bind the parties in that case alone.

Its place in the system: Charter articles 92 to 96

Article 92. The Court shall be the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It shall function in accordance with the annexed Statute, which is based upon the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice and forms an integral part of the present Charter.

Two consequences follow from that one sentence. The Statute is part of the Charter, so amending it requires the Charter amendment procedure in article 108, which is why the Court's constitution has never changed. And the Court is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice, which sat from 1922 to 1946, so that Court's decisions, cited throughout this book as PCIJ Series A and Series B, are treated as authority in the same line.

Article 93(1). All Members of the United Nations are ipso facto parties to the Statute.

Article 93(2). A non-Member may become a party to the Statute on conditions determined in each case by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Article 94(1). Each Member undertakes to comply with the decision of the Court in any case to which it is a party.

Article 94(2), enforcement. If a party fails to perform the obligations under a judgment, the other party may have recourse to the Security Council, which may, if it deems necessary, make recommendations or decide upon measures to be taken to give effect to the judgment.

Article 94(2) is the Charter's only machinery for enforcing a judgment, and it is subject to the veto. Where the defaulting State is a permanent member, or is protected by one, the article delivers nothing.

Article 95 preserves the freedom of Members to entrust their differences to other tribunals under existing or future agreements, which is the Charter's acknowledgment of arbitration.

Article 96(1). The General Assembly or the Security Council may request an advisory opinion on any legal question.

Article 96(2). Other organs and specialized agencies, when authorised by the General Assembly, may request advisory opinions on legal questions arising within the scope of their activities.

The Court: Statute articles 2 to 13, 26 and 31

Article 2, the qualification. The Court shall be composed of a body of independent judges, elected regardless of their nationality from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law.