International Court of Justice

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

The International Court of Justice is an international organization. It is the main judicial organ or branch of the United Nations. In short, International Court of Justice is ICJ; sometimes people call it as World Court. In French language, it is Cour internationale de justice). Established ICJ in 1945, ICJ has its headquarters at The Hague, Netherlands. The ICJ began its working from 1946. It replaced an earlier similar court named Permanent Court of International Justice. The International Court of Justice is different from the International Criminal Court. The ICJ uses two languages, the English language and the French language.

The Internal Court of Justice has two major functions. Firstly, it settles disputes, which the member countries may bring before it. Secondly, it may give its opinions on legal matters. Since 1980s, may developing countries have been using the services of the ICJ. But, in 1986, the United States of America does not accepts court’s views on all matters, but selectively only, that is, on case-to-case basis.

1 Structure
2 Procedure
3 Further reading
4 External links

[edit] Structure

The ICJ has fifteen permanent judges. The UN General Assembly and the un Security Council elects the judges. A judge serves for nine year and may be re-elected. If a serving judge dies, another judge from that country is generally elected to fill the vacant position. One third of judges retire every year. Thus, election takes place every third year.

The ICJ is composed of fifteen permanent judges elected by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council from a list of persons nominated by the national groups in the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The election process is set out in Articles 4-12 of the ICJ statute. Judges serve for nine year terms and may be re-elected. Elections take place every three years, with one-third of judges retiring each time, in order to ensure continuity within the court. Generally, five members of the Security Council of the United Nations always have a judge from their country. These countries are China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

In some case, the ICJ allows Ad hoc judges. Thus, if the countries in dispute may desire, they may nominate one judge each for that particular case. This right to nominate is not available if that country already has a judge of its nationality in the ICJ. Thus, sometimes, instead of fifteen, seventeen judges may be deciding a case.

There are many rules, which lay down the qualifications and conduct of the judges of the ICJ.

[edit] Procedure

Generally, all the judges of the ICJ sit together to hear and decide any matter. But, sometimes, smaller chambers of three to five judges hear and decide a case. Such chambers may be for special types of cases. Sometimes, the ICJ sets up ad hoc chambers to hear and decide particular disputes.

While deciding the case, the ICJ applies the principles of international law. It also uses the laws of the civilized world. This may be the civil and criminal law of major countries. It may also refer to legal writings, law books, and earlier decisions while deciding any matter.