The Lady Higgins | |
---|---|
President of the International Court of Justice | |
In office 6 February 2006 –6 February 2009 | |
Preceded by | Shi Jiuyong |
Succeeded by | Hisashi Owada |
Personal details | |
Born | Rosalyn C. Cohen 2 June 1937 |
Nationality | British |
Spouse | Terence Higgins,Baron Higgins |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge Yale Law School |
Occupation | Judge |
Rosalyn C. Higgins,Baroness Higgins, GBE , KC (born 2 June 1937) [1] 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.
Born to a Jewish family in 1937 as Rosalyn Cohen,she married the politician Terence Higgins,Baron Higgins in 1961. [2]
Higgins studied at Girton College,University of Cambridge,receiving her B.A. degree in 1959 and an LL.B. degree in 1962. She was a Harkness Fellow between 1959 and 1961. Besides her undergraduate degrees,she also qualified with a M.A. degree. She continued her studies at Yale Law School earning a J.S.D. degree in 1962. [3]
Following her education,Higgins was a practising barrister,and became a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1986,and is a bencher of the Inner Temple. She served on the UN Human Rights Committee for 14 years. Her role as member of the leading body for supervising implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights earned her respect for her diligence and competence. She resigned from the Human Rights Committee when she was elected to the International Court of Justice on 12 July 1995,re-elected on 6 February 2000,and ended her second term on 6 February 2009.
Her professional appointments include:
Higgins is the author of several influential works on international law,including Problems and Process:International Law and How We Use It (1994). Despite delivering many balanced judgements in different cases,Higgins's dissenting opinion in the ICJ's advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or the Use of Nuclear Weapons has been widely criticised by some legal scholars,on the grounds that it provides sovereign states with an unjustifiable amount of latitude in resort to the use of nuclear weapons in times of armed conflict. [4]
In October 2009 she was appointed advisor on International Law,to the British government's inquiry into the Iraq war (Headed by Sir John Chilcot). [5]
Higgins is a member of the Institut de droit international. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1995,and was advanced to Dame Grand Cross (GBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours. In 1988 she was appointed a Knight of the French Order of Academic Palms. Furthermore,in 2007 she was awarded the Balzan Prize for International Law since 1945.
Her competence has been recognised by many academic institutions,having received at least thirteen honorary doctorates,as well as the Yale Law School Award of Merit [3] and also the Manley-O.-Hudson medal.
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.
Philip Caryl Jessup was a 20th-century American diplomat,scholar,and jurist notable for his accomplishments in the field of international law.
H. E. Eduardo Jiménez de Aréchaga was an Uruguayan professor,jurist,and President of the International Court of Justice.
Hisashi Owada is a Japanese former jurist,diplomat and law professor. He served as a judge on the International Court of Justice from 2003 until June 7,2018,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.
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.
Bruno Simma is a German jurist who served as a judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from 2003 until 2012.
Sir Hersch Lauterpacht was a British international lawyer,human rights activist,and judge at the International Court of Justice.
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro [2007] ICJ 2 is a public international law case decided by the International Court of Justice.
Sir Christopher John Greenwood is Master of Magdalene College,Cambridge and a former British judge at the International Court of Justice. Prior to his election,he was professor of international law at the London School of Economics and a barrister who regularly appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice,the European Court of Human Rights,the English courts,and other tribunals.
Stephen Myron Schwebel,is an American jurist and international judge,counsel and arbitrator. He previously served as judge of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal (2010–2017),as a member of the U.S. National Group at the Permanent Court of Arbitration,as president of the International Monetary Fund Administrative Tribunal (1993–2010),as president of the International Court of Justice (1997–2000),as vice president of the International Court of Justice (1994–1997),and as Judge of the International Court of Justice (1981–2000). Prior to his tenure on the ICJ,Schwebel served as deputy legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State (1974–1981) and as assistant legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State (1961–1967). He also served as a professor of law at Harvard Law School (1959–1961) and Johns Hopkins University (1967–1981). Schwebel is noted for his expansive opinions in momentous cases such as Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua and Oil Platforms.
The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition,also known as the Jessup Moot or The Jessup,is the oldest and largest international moot competition in the world,attracting participants from almost 700 law schools in around 100 countries. The competition has been described as the most prestigious moot court competition in the world by a large number of organisations and universities internationally,and is one of the grand slam or major moots.
Roberto Ago was an Italian jurist. He served as a judge on the International Court of Justice from 1979 until 1995. He was Professor of International Law at the Universities of Catania (1934–1935),Genoa (1935–1938),and finally Rome (1956–1982). He specialized in both private and public international law.
The Corfu Channel case was the first public international law case heard before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) between 1947 and 1949,concerning state responsibility for damages at sea,as well as the doctrine of innocent passage. A contentious case,it was the first of any type heard by the ICJ after its establishment in 1945.
The Oil Platforms case is a public international law case decided by the International Court of Justice in 2003 in which Iran challenged the U.S. Navy's destruction of three oil platforms in the Persian Gulf in 1987-1988. The Court affirmed that it could exercise jurisdiction over the case based on the 1955 Treaty of Amity,Economic Relations and Consular Rights between the United States and Iran but decided with strong majorities against both Iran's claim and the United States' counterclaim.
Dame Victoria Madeleine Sharp,,PC is a British barrister and judge. She has been the President of the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice since 2019.
Shabtai Rosenne was a Professor of International Law and an Israeli diplomat. Rosenne was awarded the 1960 Israel Prize for Jurisprudence,the 1999 Manley O. Hudson Medal for International Law and Jurisprudence,the 2004 Hague Prize for International Law and the 2007 Distinguished Onassis Scholar Award. He was the leading scholar of the World Court - the PCIJ and ICJ and had a widely recognized expertise in treaty law,state responsibility,self-defence,UNCLOS and other issues of international law.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1278,adopted without a vote on 30 November 1999,after noting the resignation of International Court of Justice (ICJ) judge Stephen M. Schwebel taking effect on 29 February 2000,the council decided that elections to the vacancy on the ICJ would take place on 2 March 2000 at the security council and at a meeting of the General Assembly during its 54th session.
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.
Julia Sebutinde is a Ugandan jurist. She is currently serving her second term on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) following her re-election on 12 November 2020. She also is the current chancellor of Muteesa I Royal University,a university owned by Buganda kingdom. She has been a judge on the court since March 2012. She is the first African woman to sit on the ICJ. Before being elected to the ICJ,Sebutinde was a judge of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She was appointed to that position in 2007.
Leo Gross was an Austrian - American lawyer of Jewish descent. He was a scholar in the area of international law and international relations and from 1944 to 1980 a professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University.
Dame Rosalyn Higgins, QC, President, International Court of Justice, 2006–09, 74