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An Examination Of The International Court Of Justice’S Approach To Customary International Law, Janet Adewumi Bamigbose

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is regarded as the pre-eminent authority on the sources of public international law. Of the sources in this Article, none has been questioned as much as international custom, also referred to as customary international law. The ICJ has ruled that customary international law crystallizes when there is a conjugation of state practice and opinio juris, the subjective feeling by states that they must undertake the state practice. However, that seemingly simple definition leads to several questions: what amounts to state practice? How is opinio juris measured? Are …

Discrimination On The Basis Of Nationality Under The Convention On The Elimination Of Racial Discrimination, William Thomas Worster

Pace International Law Review

Following a recent judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a divergence has opened between the Court and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD Committee) over whether the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) covers nationality-based discrimination. The ICJ held that the CERD does not, but the CERD Committee had previously held the opposite. The solution to this difference is to recognize that the CERD excludes discrimination between citizens and aliens, and, in this, the ICJ was correct. However, this discrimination is distinct from discrimination between foreign persons on the basis …

Pandemic As Transboundary Harm: Lessons From The Trail Smelter Arbitration, Russell A. Miller

Scholarly Articles

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused incalculable harm around the world. The fact that this immense harm can be traced back to a localized outbreak in or near Wuhan, China, raises questions about the responsibility China might bear for the pandemic under public international law. Famously applied in the seminal Trail Smelter Arbitration (1938/1941), the Transboundary Harm Principle provides that no state can use or allow the use of its territory in a manner that causes significant harm in the territory of other states. This article does not intend to tap into the unseemly, xenophobic spirit that animates much of the …

Discussant Commentary On The Twenty-Fourth Annual Grotius Lecture, Karima Bennoune

American University Law Review

I express my sincere thanks to the American Society of International Law and the International Legal Studies Program at American University Washington College of Law for the invitation to be this year’s commentator. It is indeed an honor to respond to Judge Charlesworth’s erudite Grotius Lecture: “The Art of International Law.”

Just getting to say Judge Hilary Charlesworth alone is very meaningful. She is only the fifth woman judge out of 110 total judges on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) so far. Thanks to hard work by feminist international lawyers like her, there is finally an uptick in women’s …

Status Report On Principles Of International And Human Rights Law Relevant To Climate Change, Katelyn Horne, Maria Antonia Tigre, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

The report aims to provide high-level guidance on the legal issues to be analyzed by the ICJ on the advisory opinion request on climate change. The status report addresses (i) advisory proceedings before the ICJ, including the Court’s jurisdiction and procedure (Section II), and (ii) key legal principles relevant to the request for an advisory opinion, including principles of international environmental law and international human rights law (Section III). The report identified, in a non-exhaustive manner, key relevant principles of international environmental law, key relevant principles of international human rights law, and issues of intergenerational equities that apply to the …

Can Social Media Corporations Be Held Liable Under International Law For Human Rights Atrocities?, Juliana Palmieri

Pace International Law Review

This article examines the relevant international law associated with genocide and hate speech and examines whether there are any legal grounds to hold a corporation liable for how people chose to use its product or service in relation to human rights violations. The analysis begins with a brief overview of international criminal and human rights law, relevant treaties, jurisdictional issues, and the legal theories of corporate criminal liability and complicity. Because current international law provides no clear answer, this article proposes that international courts use a balancing test which evaluates a non-exclusive list of ten main factors.

Alleged Violations Of The 1955 Treaty Of Amity, Economic Relations, And Consular Rights (Iran V. U.S.) (Judgment On Preliminary Objections) (I.C.J.), Diane A. Desierto

Journal Articles

On February 3, 2021, the International Court of Justice delivered its judgment on preliminary objections in Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America). The judgment rejected all of the United States’ preliminary objections, declared the admissibility of Iran's Application, and held that the Court has jurisdiction “on the basis of Article XXI, paragraph 2 of the Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights of 1955.”

Revisiting The International Court Of Justice Procedure For The Revision Of Judgments, Juliette Mcintyre

Michigan Journal of International Law

The International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) is a court of first and last instance. Its decisions are “final and without appeal.” At first blush, this seems uncontroversial; it is a simple restatement of the well-established principle of res judicata. But if the court makes a judicial pronouncement without all the facts to hand, can one say that the decision is legitimate and authoritative? Pursuant to article 61 of the ICJ’s Statute, the court does have the authority to revise a judgment in certain, limited circumstances. Revision is a remedy that enables the court, upon the application of a party, …

Reprisal In Time Of Peace And Contemporary International Law, Imad Al-Din Attallah Al-Mohammad

UAEU Law Journal

This article addresses the concept of "reprisal" under contemporary international law discussing, firstly, the definition of this concept during time of peace then in armed conflicts moving to the historical evolution of reprisal since the ancient Greeks until the present and by investigating its application in international practice through the study of the Naulilaa and the Caroline disputes.

Furthermore, the article considers the conditions under which this form of self-help (reprisal) would be a legitimate act before addressing the differences between reprisal and other forms of self-help such as retaliation, self-defense, reciprocity, and war. Then, the research discusses the legal …

Construction Of A Dispute-Resolution Framework Under The International Judicial System For The Settlement Of The Inter-Korean Conflict Over The Northern Limit Line: Operating The Advisory Proceedings Of The International Court Of Justice, Hyun Jin Kim

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

To construct a dispute-resolution framework for the inter-Korean conflict over the Northern Limit Line (“NLL Conflict”) under the international judicial system, this dissertation proposes an advisory proceeding of the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) as the most promising alternative. It has proven difficult to draw a negotiated solution to this decades-long conflict, despite each of the respective State parties involved in the NLL Conflict presenting various arguments and claims about the valid legal status of the NLL. In this context, this dissertation examines the ICJ’s contribution to the resolution of international disputes, particularly controversy over the question of laws, through …

A Memorial For Bosnia: Framework Of Legal Arguments Concerning The Lawfulness Of The Maintenance Of The United Nations Security Council's Arms Embargo On Bosnia And Herzegovina, Craig Scott, Abid Qureshi, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Francis Chang, Paul Michell, Peter Copeland

Craig M. Scott

This Memorial seeks to present a framework of legal arguments with respect to the validity and legal effects of an arms embargo imposed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 713 in September 1991 on the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia), before its dissolution, and since treated as being in force with respect to the new states that have succeeded Yugoslavia. More particularly, the Memorial addresses the legality of maintaining (or, at least, having maintained during the crucial time period) the arms embargo in force, either de jure or de facto, against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) …

Developing The Principle Of Non-Recognition, Adam Saltzman J.D.

Ohio Northern University Law Review

In an attempt to ensure enforcement of law, international bodies have developed a practice of collective non-recognition in response to serious violations of international law. This Article seeks to bring some clarity to the practice of non-recognition. Through analysis of International Court of Justice cases and State practice, the Article demonstrates a legally binding, but not acknowledged shift in the law that governs non-recognition. Then, moving beyond strict legal analysis, the Article expresses policy concerns with the current legal status of the obligation and proposes how States should legally respond.

The International Law Commission’S Soft Law Influence, Elena Baylis

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fragmentation, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

A danger, an opportunity, passé, a cliché, destabilizing, empowering, destructive, creative: Depending on whom you ask, fragmentation has meant any and all of these for international law. The concept of fragmentation has been a mirror reflecting international lawyers’ perception of themselves, their field, and its prospects for the future.

This chapter chronicles fragmentation’s meanings over the past few decades. In particular, it focuses on the spreading fears of fragmentation around the millennium, how the fears were eventually repurposed, where, speculatively, those fear may have gone, and how and to what extent faith in international law was restored.

Legal Consequences Of The Separation Of The Chagos Archipelago From Mauritius In 1965, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Decolonization and its quite valid discontents lay at the center of the recent International Court of Justice advisory opinion regarding the territory and populations of the Chagos Archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean. Answering questions posed by the UN General Assembly, the concluded that because these islands were detached from Mauritius as a condition of independence, the decolonization of Mauritius had not been completed in accordance with international law. The Court further ruled unlawful the United Kingdom's continued administration of the Chagos Archipelago and called upon all UN member states to aid completion of the decolonization process. As detailed in …

International Water Law, Groundwater Resources And The Danube Dam Case, Gabriel Eckstein, Yoram Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

International water law is generally applied to disputes between states concerning surface bodies of water crossing international borders. Disputes and policy-making over transboundary ground water resources, however, have traditionally been determined on an ad hoc basis or based on regional custom. This disparate treatment stems primarily from the misunderstood nature of ground water and its relationship to surface water among government officials, policy-makers, jurists, and others. The result often has been the degradation of subsurface waters on both sides of political boundaries, and unwittingly, of numerous international surface bodies of water.

International concern over regional and global availability and quality …

The Failure Of International Law In Palestine, Svetlana Sumina, Steven Gilmore

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Counter-Terrorism And Human Rights: The Emergence Of A Rule Of Customary International Law From U.N. Resolutions, Joseph M. Isanga

Joseph Isanga

This article is divided into four sections. Section I will discuss how a rule of customary international law generally develops, including discussions of development from conventional sources and the use of United Nations resolutions for finding a rule of customary international law generally. Section II will expound the treatment of and reliance upon the United Nations resolutions as a source of law by the International Court of Justice, in order to facilitate our discussion of an emerging rule of customary international law from resolutions. Section III will consider the limitations for using resolutions as binding statements of opinio juris. Finally, …

A Theory Of Constructive Interpretation For Customary International Law Identification, Nadia Banteka

Michigan Journal of International Law

Scholars and judicial practice have long debated the nature of customary international law (“CIL”) as a source of international law, including its normative identification. Existing approaches to CIL identification largely follow the methods of induction and deduction. However, these methods are only two ends of a spectrum, and international law has yet to engage systematically with other methodological approaches that lay within this spectrum. This Article introduces a mid-spectrum approach by applying the theory of constructive interpretation to CIL identification. The Article introduces the guiding principles of constructive interpretation, examines the process of constructive interpretation in the abstract, and applies …

Talking Foreign Policy: Jesner V. Arab Bank, Milena Sterio, Thomas Buergenthal, Carsten Stahn, Avidan Cover, Timothy Webster, Michael P. Scharf

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Talking Foreign Policy is a one-hour radio program, hosted by Case Western Reserve University School of Law Co-Dean Michael Scharf, in which experts discuss the salient foreign policy issues of the day. Dean Scharf created Talking Foreign Policy to break down complex foreign policy topics that are prominent in the day-to-day news cycles yet difficult to understand.

This broadcast featured:

• Judge Thomas Buergenthal, the youngest survivor of the Auschwitz death camp, who went on to become the Dean of American University Law School, to serve for twelve years as a judge on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and then …

Re-Assessing The Evidentiary Regime Of The International Court Of Justice: A Case For Codifying Its Discretion To Exclude Evidence, Siyuan Chen

Siyuan CHEN

Like many international tribunals, the International Court of Justice subscribes heavily to the principle of free admissibility of evidence. Neither its statute nor rules impose substantive restrictions on the admissibility of evidence, whether by way of exclusionary rules or an exclusionary discretion. Instead, the court’s practice has been to focus on evaluating and weighing the evidence after it has been admitted. There are certainly features of the ICJ that sets it apart from domestic courts and arguably justify such an approach: the ICJ is for settling disputes between sovereign states; it does not use a typical fact-finding system; its rules …

Birds Of A Feather: Patterns Of Judicial Decision-Making At The International Court Of Justice, 1946-2015, Kai-Chih Chang

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

The technical legal expertise of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, is rarely questioned. However, from its inception critics have questioned its partiality by drawing attention to apparent extrajudicial influences on its decisions. While there has been no lack of research assessing the ICJ judges’ voting behavior, methodological limitations of prior research designs have stymied empirical assessments of the extent and nature of extrajudicial factors’ influence over the ICJ judges’ voting behaviors. This dissertation challenges previous research concluding that political and military alignments have no effect on judicial decision-making. In contrast to …

Rethinking East Mediterranean Security: Powers, Allies & International Law, Sami Dogru, Herbert Reginbogin

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Legitimacy And International Courts, Harlan Grant Cohen, Andreas Follesdal, Nienke Grossman, Geir Ulfstein

All Faculty Scholarship

Legitimacy and International Courts examines the underpinnings of legitimacy, or the justification of the authority, of international courts and tribunals. It brings together an esteemed group of authors, noted for both their expertise in individual courts, tribunals, or other adjudicatory bodies, and their work on legitimacy, effectiveness, and governance more broadly, to consider the legitimacy of international courts from a comparative perspective. Authors explore what strengthens and weakens the legitimacy of various different international courts, while also considering broader theories of international court legitimacy. Some chapters highlight the sociological or normative legitimacy of specific courts or tribunals, while others address …

How And Why International Law Binds International Organizations, Kristina Daugirdas

Articles

For decades, controversy has dogged claims about whether and to what extent international law binds international organizations (“IOs”) like the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. The question has important consequences for humanitarian law, economic rights, and environmental protection. In this Article, I aim to resolve the controversy by supplying a theory about when and how international law binds IOs. I conclude that international law binds IOs to the same degree that it binds states. That is, IOs are not more extensively or more readily bound; nor are they less extensively or less readily bound. This means that IOs, …

Enforcing United Nations Decisions In Domestic Courts, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Mary Ellen O'Connell

No abstract provided.

Between Light And Shadow: The International Law Against Genocide In The International Court Of Justice’S Judgement In Croatia V. Serbia (2015), Ines Gillich

Pace International Law Review

This Article identifies and critically analyzes the contributions the International Court of Justice (ICJ) made to the international law against genocide via the judgment in Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia) of February 3, 2015. This Article elaborates on the concept of genocide—a term that has originally been coined after the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust—and the protection against this “crime of crimes” under international law. The analysis section of this Article refers to the historical and procedural context of the dispute between Croatia and Serbia in the case, …

Child Marriage In Yemen: A Violation Of International Law, Elizabeth Verner

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Icelandic Fisheries Dispute: A Decision Is Finally Rendered, Roger A. Briney

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Right, Title And Interest In The Territorial Sea: Federal And State Claims In The United States, Stephen M. Kiser, Dan A. Aldridge Jr.

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.