The International Court of Justice,or colloquially the World Court,is the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between nations,and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues. It is one of the six organs of the United Nations (UN),and is located in The Hague,Netherlands.
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002,informally known as the Iraq Resolution,is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No. 107-243,authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against Saddam Hussein's Iraq government in what would be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons[1996] ICJ 3 is a landmark international law case,where the International Court of Justice gave an advisory opinion stating that while the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to international humanitarian law,it cannot be concluded whether or not such a threat or use of nuclear weapons would be lawful in extreme circumstances where the very survival of a state would be at stake. The Court held that there is no source of international law that explicitly authorises or prohibits the threat or use of nuclear weapons but such threat or use must be in conformity with the UN Charter and principles of international humanitarian law. The Court also concluded that there was a general obligation to pursue nuclear disarmament.
Hisashi Owada is a Japanese former jurist,diplomat and law professor. He served as a judge on the International Court of Justice from 6 February 2003 until 7 June 2018,and was president of the court from 2009 to 2012. He is the father of Empress Masako and the father-in-law of the incumbent Emperor of Japan,Naruhito.
Shi Jiuyong was a Chinese judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Shi was elected to the ICJ on 6 February 1994,and became President nine years later on 6 February 2003. In 2010,he announced his resignation from the Court effective on 28 May 2010.
Peter Tomka is a Slovak judge of the International Court of Justice. Prior to his election to the ICJ in 2003,Tomka was a Slovak diplomat.
Rosalyn C. Higgins,Baroness Higgins,is a British former president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She was the first female judge elected to the ICJ,and was elected to a three-year term as its president in 2006.
Sir Kenneth James Keith is a New Zealand judge. He was elected to the International Court of Justice in November 2005,serving a nine-year term during the years 2006 through 2015.
The use of force by states is controlled by both customary international law and by treaty law. The UN Charter reads in article 2(4):
All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.
Elizabeth Susan Wilmshurst,Distinguished Fellow of the International Law Programme at Chatham House,and Professor of International Law at University College London,is best known for her role as Deputy Legal Adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The legality of the Iraq War is a contested topic that spans both domestic and international law. Political leaders in the US and the UK who supported the invasion of Iraq have claimed that the war was legal. However,many legal experts and other world leaders have argued that the war lacked justification and violated the United Nations charter.
The Statute of the International Court of Justice is an integral part of the United Nations Charter,as specified by Chapter XIV of the United Nations Charter,which established the International Court of Justice.
Guy Serle Goodwin-Gill is a barrister and a professor of public international law at Oxford University and a Fellow of All Souls College,Oxford.
Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo was a request in 2008 for an advisory opinion referred to the International Court of Justice by the United Nations General Assembly regarding the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. The territory of Kosovo is the subject of a dispute between Serbia and the Republic of Kosovo established by the declaration. This was the first case regarding a unilateral declaration of independence to be brought before the court.
Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade was a Brazilian jurist and international judge. He was appointed as judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from 6 February 2009. He was reelected to the Court in December 2017,and took office for his second term on 6 February 2018,serving until his death in 2022.
James Richard Crawford,AC,SC,FBA was an Australian academic and practitioner in the field of public international law. He was a Judge of the International Court of Justice from February 2015 to his death in 2021. From 1990 to 1992 Crawford was Dean of the Sydney Law School where he was also the Challis Professor of International Law from 1986 to 1992. From 1992 to 2014,he was Whewell Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge and Fellow in Law at Jesus College,Cambridge. He was formerly Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law,also at Cambridge.
Sir Michael Charles Wood is a member of the International Law Commission. He was the principal Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 1999 and 2006. During 35 years as a lawyer in the FCO,he attended many international conferences,including the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. He now practices as a barrister from chambers at 20 Essex Street,in London.
Xue Hanqin is a Chinese jurist at the International Court of Justice. On 29 June 2010,she was elected to fill the vacancy created by Shi Jiuyong's resignation on 28 May 2010. She is one of three female judges serving on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and one of only four women elected as members of the Court to date. Xue is the fifth Chinese judge at the ICJ,and the third representing the People's Republic of China.
Joan E. Donoghue is an American lawyer,international legal scholar,former U.S. State Department official,and former president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She was first elected to the court in 2010,re-elected in 2014,and elected by the ICJ judges to be president of the ICJ in 2021. She was the third woman to be elected to the ICJ and the first American woman elected as president of the court.
Dire Tladi is a professor of international law at the Department of Public Law and the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa at the University of Pretoria. He is also extraordinary professor at the Public Law Department of the University of Stellenbosch. He has served as the Principal State Law Adviser for International Law for the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation and Legal Counsellor to the South Africa Mission to the United Nations.
