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Established in 1945, the International Court of Justice is the judicial extension of the United Nations. It serves dual purposes—to utilize the tenets of international law in order to settle legal disputes among the nations of the United Nations and to serve as an advisory body to provide opinions on legal questions raised by the United Nations. It comprises fifteen (15) judges who are elected by the United Nations General Assembly as well as the United Nations Security Council. The justices are elected to serve nine (9) year terms (International Court of Justice—The Court
The International Court of Justice is not the first world court. Its predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) was the first world court. It was established under Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations in 1920. This article charged the Council of the League of Nations with the responsibility of establishing the first international judicial body which was responsible for dealing with arbitration between disputing nations and advising the nations with regards to the scope and ramifications of actions involving multiple nations (International Court of Justice—History.
The International Court of Justice operates in accordance with its dual purposes. In cases where the Court is called upon to settle disputes among nations, the cases have to be brought to the Court by member states of the United Nations. These cases commonly referred to as contentious cases are brought to the Court only on the condition that they accept the jurisdiction of the Court. Jurisdiction is accepted by either the entry into a special agreement, jurisdictional clause, or declarations made under statutes. Jurisdictional clauses are essentially agreements that any further clarification in a case that was settled should be rendered by the International Court of Justice.
When a jurisdiction has been established, the case is then handed over to the court in one of two ways. The first way in which this is done is through notification of the existence of a special agreement. The second way in which this can be done is through an application made to the Court by the applicant nation against a responding nation. The case is submitted to the Registry. The Registry serves as the administrative body of the Court. This body is headed by the Registrar.
All of the cases of the Court are submitted to the Registrar and when the Registrar receives the case, it is dated based on the date of receipt by the Registrar (International Court of Justice—How it works The Registrar serves as the channel of communication between the Court and the disputing nations. In so doing, he/she handles notifications, the transmission of documents, maintenance of a list of cases, entry of orders, attendance of Court meetings, minutes taking at each Court meeting as well as the signing of all judgments, advisory opinions, and Court orders. Additionally, he/she has custody of the seals and stamps of the Court as well as the archives of the Court.
After the case has been filed and referred to the Registry, the parties have the opportunity to present their pleadings in which the facts of the case are presented. The facts are presented orally in a public forum and can be presented by either an agent of the disputing nation or the counsel for that nation. After all of the deliberations are presented, a judgment is then rendered (International Court of Justice—How it works.
Advisory proceedings are slightly different from contentious cases. Advisory proceedings are not open to the public. They can only be attended by entities within the United Nations. The General Assembly of the United Nations as well as the UN Security Council can request the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on any legal matter which arises as a direct result of their course of conducting business and is contained within the scope of their activities.
In so doing, the Court can utilize written and oral facts to clarify the question being asked. In an attempt to ascertain the facts which can be utilized in the formulation of an advisory opinion, the Court creates a list of nations that can provide valuable information on the subject in question. The nations then provide their input on the subject and the Court deliberates and then provides its opinion (International Court of Justice—How it works.
In contemplating the similarities between the International Court of Justice and the United States Supreme Court, one can clearly see that they are similar in structure in that both the Supreme Court and the International Court of Justice serve as the highest court in their perspective areas. For the Supreme Court, it is the highest court in the United States and for the International Court of Justice, it is the highest court which deals with international disputes.
They are both governed by elected justices who are elected to serve terms of predetermined lengths of time and are charged with the responsibility of settling disputes. In the settlement of disputes, the justices are presented with the facts of the case as seen by both sides and a decision is made based on the tenets of the law. One major difference can be seen in the fact that the decisions made by the United States Supreme Court are binding and those made by the International Court of Justice are not. Another major difference can be seen in the fact that the Supreme Court of the United States does not provide an advisory opinion. It only has one single purpose—to settle disputes utilizing the tenets of the law. This requires an interpretation of the law.
Finally, it is prudent to offer an operational definition for the term advisory opinion in order to illustrate a complete understanding of the way in which the International Court of Justice Operates. One of the functions of the International Court of Justice is to provide an advisory opinion on matters of international law. An advisory opinion is an opinion issued by a Court that is not charged with the responsibility of resolving a specific case. Its only responsibility is to interpret the law with regards to a question presented to the Court.
References
International Court of Justice (n.d.). How it works. Web.
International Court of Justice (n.d.). The Court. Web.
International Court of Justice (n.d.). The History. Web.
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