A Primer on ICJ Procedure: A Commentary on Article 43 ICJ Statute

Abstract

The procedure before the International Court of Justice is governed, first and foremost, by Article 43 of the Court`s Statute, the Rules of Court, the Practice Directions and by the practice of the Court. The term ‘procedure’ describes the mode of conducting proceedings before the Court. In combining both oral and written phases of procedure the Court ‘marries the key features of the common and civil law systems’ thus allowing States, according to their own legal traditions, to lay greater emphasis on either of the two phases of the proceedings. The combination of the two phases is the basis for the sound administration of international justice. The Court’s procedure in contentious cases is characterized by the equality of the parties, the duality of the proceedings, the simplicity of the procedural rule and the flexibility in its application. The paper provides a detailed commentary on the rules governing the written and oral phase of the proceedings in contentious cases and the incidental proceedings on preliminary objections.