This book evaluates the concept of the function of law through the prism of the International Court of Justice. It goes beyond a conventional analysis of the Court's case law and applicable law, to consider the compromise between supranational order and state sovereignty that lies at the heart of its institutional design. It argues that this compromise prevents the Court from playing a progressive role in the development of international law. Instead, it influences the international legal order in more subtle ways, in particular, in shaping understanding of the nature or form of the international legal order as a whole. The book concludes that the role of the Court is not to advance some universal conception of international law but rather to decide the cases before it in the best possible way within its institutional limits, while remaining aware of law's deeper theoretical foundations. The book considers three key elements: firstly, it examines the historical aspects of the Court's constitutive Statute, and the manner in which it defines its judicial character. Secondly, it considers the drafting process, the function of a dissenting opinion, and the role of the individual judge, in an attempt to discern insights on the function of the Court. Finally, the book examines the Court's practice in regard to three conceptual issues which assist in understanding the Court's function: its theory of precedent; its definition of the 'international community'; and its theory on the completeness of the international legal order.

The International Court of Justice (in French, the Cour internationale de justice), also commonly known as the World Court or ICJ, is the oldest, most important and most famous judicial arm of the United Nations. Established by the United Nations Charter in 1945 and based in the Peace Palace in the Hague, the primary function of the Court is to adjudicate in disputes brought before it by states, and to provide authoritative, influential advisory opinions on matters referred to it by various international organisations, agencies and the UN General Assembly. This new work, by a leading academic authority on international law who also appears as an advocate before the Court, examines the Statute of the Court, its procedures, conventions and practices, in a way that will provide invaluable assistance to all international lawyers. The book covers matters such as: the composition of the Court and elections, the office and role of ad hoc judges, the significance of the occasional use of smaller Chambers, jurisdiction, the law applied, preliminary objections, the range of contentious disputes which may be submitted to the Court, the status of advisory opinions, relationship to the Security Council, applications to intervene, the status of judgments and remedies. Referring to a wealth of primary and secondary sources, this work provides international lawyers with a readable, comprehensive and authoritative work of reference which will greatly enhance understanding and knowledge of the ICJ. The book has been translated and lightly updated from the French original, R Kolb, La Cour international de Justice (Paris, Pedone, 2013), by Alan Perry, Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Winner of the 2014 American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit for High Technical Craftsmanship and Utility to Practicing Lawyers and Scholars: 'Robert Kolb's International Court of Justice provides a magisterial, lucid study of its subject. The breadth and depth of the treatment are impressive: Kolb takes the reader from the history of the Court, to its role in international society, to the more technical questions concerning its composition, powers and procedures, to the development of its jurisprudence, and to its future. The finely grained discussion provides much more than a mere survey of the Court's constitutive instruments and decisions. It engages the Court as an institution and asks how it actually operates, and secures efficacy and authority in doing so. The book's careful and detailed coverage of the Court's legal framework and operation will benefit practitioners and scholars alike. There is no doubt that Kolb's volume immediately takes a place among the authoritative references on the Court.' ASIL Book Awards Committee This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's International Arbitration online service.

In November 1991 the EC acceded as a member of the FAO. On January 1, 1995 the EC became an original member to the WTO. This study deals with the interaction of two legal systems, namely between the legal system of the Community and that of other IOs. The more powers the Community gains, the more important it becomes to enable the Community to exercise these powers within the framework of relevant IOs. In particular, where the subject concerned comes under the Community's exclusive competence, the Member States have transferred their powers to the Community and thus the competent actor is the Community itself. The subject of participation by the Community in other IOs is not as yet well regulated either under Community law or under international institutional law. Furthermore, it has not been extensively treated in the literature to date. Hence, this study offers a theoretical analysis of the subject as well as an examination of daily practice in three case-studies on the relations of the EC with the FAO, the ILO and Fisheries Organizations, in particular the NAFO.

The first part of this book deals with the general principles relating to international disputes settlement. It starts by looking at the nature of an international dispute in contemporary international law, and by discussing the principles governing the ascertainment of the existence of an international dispute. It then moves on to a consideration of the diplomatic means of an international dispute settlement. The book not only focuses on the peaceful means, but also considers other means, in particular countermeasures. A separate chapter is devoted to the International Court of Justice, enabling in-depth treatment of the issues. The book critically analyses the cases in which Australia and New Zealand have been involved, first as applicants, and then as respondents, thereby assessing the contributions made by these two countries to the development of the law relating to international disputes settlement.

This book deals with the question of national sovereignty and States' participation in International Organizations, whether traditional or supranational ones. Although there has been much discussion on the problems posed by the transference of sovereignty, this volume provides an original insight in that transfer of state sovereignty is approached as a dynamic process that can be divided into three different phases. Part one, called `the initial phase', focuses on the examination of the domestic legal basis for the transfer of state sovereignty. Part two, `the transfer phase', investigates how the process of transfer evolves within the core of two International Organizations: the United Nations and the European Communities. Part three, `the post-transfer phase', analyses the States' responses to the effects and consequences of the transfer of sovereignty.

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This fully up-dated, third revised edition of Conforti's thought-provoking and challenging textbook, The Law and Practice of the United Nations, provides a comprehensive legal analysis of problems concerning membership, the structure of UN organs, their functions and their acts, taking into consideration the text of the Charter, its historical origins, and, particularly, the practice of the organs. Its main focus is on the practice of the Security Council. In particular the action of the Security Council under Chapter VII has been taken into account. The legal literature on Chapter VII - a literature which has grown enormously in recent times - has also been considered. The fact that the legal aspects of the action or the inaction of the Security Council have been discussed to an unusually large extent by ordinary people at the time of the war against Iraq and even later is worth noting. The importance of the role of the United Nations, and the content of the rules governing it, has become a leitmotiv of all debates on international politics. Consequently, the opinion often held in the past, according to which it was useless to deal with the legal aspects of the United Nations activity, can be considered as obsolete.