Valuing Women as Counsel in International Adjudication

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 293-296
Author(s):  
Kate Parlett
Keyword(s):  
Annual Report ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Interstate Disputes ◽  
The Icj ◽  
Good Guess ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
The Moment

At the outset, it is helpful to draw a distinction between interstate disputes—those at the ICJ and that are administered by some other institutions—and other forms of international arbitration. The reality is that there are relatively few interstate cases. At the moment, there are perhaps a dozen active cases on the docket of the ICJ. That is a relatively full docket for the ICJ, although it has been at that level for a few years now. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in its 2015 Annual Report stated that it was administering eight interstate cases. So a good guess of the maximum number of interstate cases that are currently active is perhaps twenty-five.

Thoughts on Domestic Adjudication and the Identification and Formation of Customary International Law

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-149
Author(s):  
Cameron Miles
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
State Practice ◽  
The Icj ◽  
International Adjudication

Article 38(1)(d) of the ICJ Statute provides that “judicial decisions” may serve as a subsidiary means for the determination of customary international law. The absence of a qualifying adjective to the term “judicial decisions” confirms that, at least ex facie, there is no priority to be given to international over domestic judgments in this respect. And yet – as the International Law Commission’s Draft Conclusions on Formation and Identification of Customary International Law confirms – the reality of international adjudication is one in which domestic judicial decisions are often side-lined. In this paper, I question the ILC’s assertion that this is due to the relative expertise of international versus domestic courts, and instead posit a model based on the shifting architectonics of international adjudication. Two related developments are key: (1) the florescence of international adjudicative bodies in the post-1945 era, and (2) the tendency for international courts and tribunals to see domestic judicial decisions as evidence of state practice and opinio juris under Article 38(1)(b), rather than as subsidiary means for the determination of custom – that is, as factual rather than legal precedents.

Groupthink Bias in International Adjudication

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-126
Author(s):  
Philipp Günther
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
General Group ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Group Problem Solving ◽  
Group Environment ◽  
The Icj ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
Deliberative Processes

Abstract One of the most common assumptions about decision-making is that groups usually enhance the quality of the outcomes of deliberative processes. The research on groupthink behaviour challenges this belief by hypothesizing that certain group constellations excessively seek concurrence and thereby increase the probability of faulty decision-making. Since the decision-making process in international adjudication almost always involves group choices, it is crucial to consider the group environment of collegial court decision-making. This article utilizes the General Group Problem Solving model (GGPS) to ascertain how strong the different group conformity antecedents are pronounced in five international courts (the ICJ, the ITLOS, the WTO AB, the ECtHR and the ICC). The results of the GGPS analysis indicate that the WTO AB and the ICC are most likely susceptible to groupthink effects while the other courts are relatively resilient.

A Legal Journey Through the UN, Academia, and the ICJ: Conversations with Dame Rosalyn Higgins DBE, JSD, FBA, QC

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Dingle
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
The Icj ◽  
Global Peace ◽  
International Adjudication

AbstractThis article, written by Lesley Dingle, is based upon an in-depth interview with Dame Rosalyn Higgins in March 2014. It highlights particular elements that characterise her contribution to legal scholarship and international adjudication, and should be read in the context of the biography presented in the Eminent Scholars Archive: http://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/eminent_scholars/dame_rosalyn_higgins.php. Dame Rosalyn Higgins was born in Kensington in 1937. She grew up in London during the Blitz and her matter-of-fact account of these times epitomised her later career: application to the task in hand, and a lack of a sense of expectation. After the War, she passed successively through grammar school, Girton College, Yale and the Royal Institute of International affairs, steadily immersing herself over fifteen years in the work of the United Nations during its formative period. It was on the UN's role as the global peace-keeper and international law-maker that she became the acknowledged authority. There followed a long period of formal academia (1978–95: Kent and LSE), during which she rose to high office. This experience further honed her scholarly and administrative instincts, and she was honoured in 1995 with a DBE. Later that year Dame Rosalyn was appointed to the Bench of the International Court of Justice – the first woman to rise to this position, and in 2006 was elected its President. She retired in 2009.

Case Analysis: The ICJ and South West Africa (Namibia): A Retrospective Legal/Political Assessment

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michla Pomerance
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
South West ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
The Icj ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
International Adjudication

No single political issue has engaged the ICJ more than that of South West Africa (Namibia). Over a period ranging from 1949 through 1971, recourse was had to the Court, both in its advisory and contentious capacities, on various aspects of the problem. Even today, after Namibia attained independence, the Court's jurisprudence and the saga of UN-Court relations in this matter continue to intrigue. This is because the questions raised have continuing relevance to many issues bearing on international law and international relations.Much has been, and will be, written on the approach of the Court and of individual judges to a panoply of international legal questions raised in the course of the judicial proceedings. But, in fact, the long tale also offers researchers an enticing fountain of material on the role of law and adjudication in international relations, on the interaction between the UN judicial and political fora and, more broadly, between law and politics. This article focuses mainly on these latter, relatively neglected, aspects because it is with respect to these that the benefit of hindsight offers the ability to reassess and revise some of the earlier assumptions and to note some interesting paradoxes not readily discernible at the time. Perhaps revision of some of the axiomatic propositions long perpetuated in the field will offer better guidance to those seeking to enhance the role of international adjudication in world affairs.

scholarly journals Precarious Finality? Reflections on Res Judicata in the Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf Case

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niccolo Ridi
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Res Judicata ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
The World ◽  
The Icj ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
Rare Situation

This article considers the approach to the res judicata principle taken by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and, specifically, its application in its 2016 judgment on preliminary objections in the latest dispute between Nicaragua and Colombia. The judgment joins the small number of ICJ decisions in which the Court was evenly split, an altogether rare situation, which, at the time of the decision, had not occurred since the Nuclear Weapons Avisory Opinion. Intriguingly, such a fracture seems to have been prompted by differences over the operation of a procedural principle the understanding of which is comparatively uncontroversial. Upon closer analysis, however, the disagreement reveals that more significant questions were at stake, with members of the minority issuing a vocal joint dissent and several individual declarations. This study will move in three parts: first, it will provide an overview of the nature and purpose of the principle of res judicata, its application in international adjudication, and its use by the ICJ; second, it will analyse the Court’s reading of the principle in the case at issue; third, it will expose the broader implications of one such approach for the role and authority of the World Court and the international judiciary.

scholarly journals Teaching the World Court Makes a Bad Case: Revisiting the Relationship Between Domestic Courts and the ICJ

2021 ◽  
pp. 259-280
Author(s):  
Raffaela Kunz
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
International Courts ◽  
International Court ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
The World ◽  
Effective System ◽  
The Icj ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
The One

AbstractSentenza 238/2014 once more highlights the important role domestic courts play in international law. More than prior examples, it illustrates the ever more autonomous and self-confident stance of domestic courts on the international plane. But the ruling of the Italian Constitutional Court (ItCC) also shows that more engagement with international law does not necessarily mean that domestic courts enhance the effectiveness of international law and become ‘compliance partners’ of international courts. Sentenza 238/2014 suggests that domestic courts, in times of global governance and increased activity of international courts, see the role they play at the intersection of legal orders also as ‘gate-keepers’, ready to cushion the domestic impact of international law if deemed necessary. The judgment of the ItCC thus offers a new opportunity to examine the multifaceted and complex role of these important actors that apply and shape international law, while always remaining bound by domestic (constitutional) law. This chapter does so by exploring how domestic courts deal with rulings of the World Court. It shows that despite the fact that in numerous situations domestic courts could act as compliance partners of the International Court of Justice, in reality, more often than not, they have refused to do so, arguing that its judgments are not self-executing and thus deferring the implementation to the political branches. Assessing this practice, the chapter argues that domestic courts should take a more active stance and overcome the purely interstate view that seems at odds with present-day international law. While it seems too far-reaching to expect domestic courts to follow international courts unconditionally, the chapter cautions that there is a considerable risk of setting dangerous precedents by openly defying international judgments. Domestic courts should carefully balance the different interests at stake, namely an effective system of international adjudication on the one hand and the protection of fundamental domestic principles on the other hand. The chapter finds that the ItCC’s attempt to reintroduce clear boundaries between legal orders lacks the openness and flexibility needed to effectively cope with today’s complex and plural legal reality.

Artificial Intelligence in International Arbitration

2020 ◽  
pp. 590-616
Author(s):  
Myriam Gicquello
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Naturalistic Decision Making ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Behavioural Analysis ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter assesses the introduction of artificial intelligence in international arbitration. The contention is that it would not only reinstate confidence in the arbitral system—from the perspective of the parties and the general public—and participate in the development of the rule of law, but also engage with broader systemic considerations in enhancing its legitimacy, fairness, and efficiency. Yet, before addressing the why, what, and how of this proposition, a definition of artificial intelligence is warranted. It should be noted at the outset that this concept has a variety of meanings. Despite the lack of consensus on its meaning, the chapter will thus treat artificial intelligence as encompassing both semi-autonomous and autonomous computer systems dedicated to assisting or replacing human beings in decision-making tasks. It presents the conclusions of two extensive research programs respectively dealing with the performance of statistical models and naturalistic decision-making. From that behavioural analysis, the introduction of artificial intelligence in international arbitration be discussed against the general considerations of international adjudication and the specific goals pertaining to international arbitration.

scholarly journals The Shape and Structure of the ‘Usable Past’: An Empirical Analysis of the Use of Precedent in International Adjudication

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-247
Author(s):  
Niccolò Ridi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
The Icj ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
Wto Appellate Body ◽  
Usable Past

Abstract How do international adjudicators use precedent? This question has been addressed several times in the literature, but doctrinal accounts have generally failed to consider the aggregate dimension of the phenomenon. This article seeks to provide an alternative outlook by offering a large-scale computational analysis of the body of jurisprudence of three international fora (the ICJ, the WTO Appellate Body and investment arbitration tribunals) and comparing their citation patterns with those of other judicial bodies—national and international. Building on a very large dataset (comprising over 200,000 citations), it employs network analysis tools to measure the evolution of international law citation networks. It then unpacks this emerging complexity by considering what, in a precedent, holds ‘citing value’, highlighting the expansion of the range of precedential resources as well as the consecration of established authorities. Finally, the article considers three examples of computational analysis of citations to precedent in order to better gauge the level of engagement with the past.

The South West Africa Cases: an Appraisal

1967 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Falk
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Major Question ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
South West ◽  
International Court ◽  
New States ◽  
The Icj ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
International Adjudication

Ethiopia and Liberia instituted litigation in 1960 before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to test the legality of South Africa's administration of the mandated territory of South West Africa. The ICJ received, thereby, an opportunity to deal with a major question of international concern. Hopes were raised that the role of international adjudication would be enhanced by the results of this litigation. The case was also expected to demonstrate to the new states that the procedures and institutions of traditional international law could be used to promote, as well as to retard, their distinctive goals in international life.

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