Icj Its Working

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1953412
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
PUBLIC LAW AND LEGAL THEORY PAPER NO. 589
LEGAL STUDIES RESEARCH PAPER NO. 589
The International Court of Justice
SEAN D. MURPHY
Accepted Paper
THE RULES, PRACTICE, AND JURISPRUDENCE OF
INTERNATIONAL COURTS AND TRIBUNALS
(FORTHCOMING)
This paper can be downloaded free of charge from the
Social Science Research Network at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1953412 Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1953412
Chapter One
The International Court of Justice
Sean D. Murphy
A. Overview
The International Court of Justice ("ICJ" or "Court") is a highly respected and authoritative judicial tribunal, lying at the center of the U . N . system, with an influence that extends well beyond the legal relations of the Parties that appear before it.' At the same time, important constraints on its jurisdiction preclude the Court f r om resolving most disputes between States.^
1. Essential Information
The core instruments creating the ICJ are the U . N . Charter (especially Article
7(1) and Chapter X I V ) ' and the ICJ Statute." The U . N . Charter provides that the ICJ shall be the "principal judicial organ" of the United Nations and that all U N Member States are ipso facto parties to the ICJ Statute.' As such, all 192 Member States of the United Nations are Members of the ICJ Statute and thus capable of appearing before the Court in either contentious
' See generally Mohamed Sameh M. Amr, The Role of ttie International Court of Justice As the
Principal Judicial Organ of the United Nations {The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 2003).
^ For information relating to the work of the International Court of Justice, see Yearboolc of the International Court of Justice (1947-); International Court of Justice, http://www.icj-cij
.org (last visited Feb. 27, 2011).
' Charter of the United Nations, June 26, 1945, Arts. 7(1), 92-96, 59 Stat. 1031