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Judge Kenneth James Keith

Judge Kenneth Keith
International Court of Justice

Biography Biography in PDF

Courts and Tribunals
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The International Court of Justice
and Criminal Justice
Video | Audio
(18/7/2012, 29 minutes)

The Advisory Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice
Video | Audio
(31/10/2016, 32 minutes)

The International Court of Justice -
The Reflections of One Judge as He Leaves Office
Video | Audio
(31/10/2014, 37 minutes)


Procedure
Aspects of the Judicial Process in National and International Courts and Tribunals
In this lecture, I consider aspects of three principal questions relating to the judicial process: who (the judges, counsel  etc. ); how (the procedure); and what (the substantive law, the facts). I also touch on two other major questions, why and what next?  I draw on my experience as a judge or arbitrator in a number of different courts and tribunals.
Video | Audio
(20/5/2008, 51 minutes)

Interpreting in International Courts and Tribunals
Video | Audio
(31/10/2014, 38 minutes)

Courts and Tribunals
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The International Court of Justice and Criminal Justice
A. Legal Instruments

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Paris, 9 December 1948, United Nations,  Treaty Series, vol. 78, p. 277.

Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Vienna, 24 April 1963, United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 596, p. 261.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Montego Bay, 10 December 1982, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1833, p.3.

European Convention on State Immunity, Basel, 16 May 1972, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1495.

International Law Commission, Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, 2001.

United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property, New York, 2 December 2004.

B. Jurisprudence

The Advisory Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice
A. Legal Instruments

Covenant of the League of Nations, League of Nations, Paris, 28 April 1919, Official Journal, 1st year, No. 1, February 1920, p. 3 (Text of the Covenant available on the website of Yale Law School’s Avalon Project).

Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice, Geneva, 13 December 1920, League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 6, p. 390.

Charter of the United Nations (in particular, Art. 96) and Statute of the International Court of Justice (in particular, Articles 65-68), San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, 13 February 1946, United nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1, p. 16.

Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, Moscow, 5 August 1963, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 480, p. 44.

B. Jurisprudence

International Court of Justice, Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2010, p. 403.  

International Court of Justice, Judgement no. 2867 of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization upon a Complaint Filed Against the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2012, p.10.

International Court of Justice, Legality of the Use by a State of Nuclear Weapons in Armed Conflict, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996, p. 66.

International Court of Justice, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996, p. 226.

International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004, p. 136.

International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 16.

International Court of Justice, Obligations concerning Negotiations relating to Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to the Nuclear Disarmament (Marshall Islands v. United Kingdom), 2016, continuous case.

International Court of Justice, Nuclear Tests (New Zealand v. France), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1974, p. 457.

International Court of Justice, Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, p. 12.

Permanent Court of International Justice, Status of Eastern Carelia, Advisory Opinion, P.C.I.J., Series B, no. 5, 1923.

C. Documents

International Court of Justice, Rules of Court, 14 April 1978, in particular, articles 102-109.

World Health Organization, Second Report of Committee B to the Thirty-Third World Health Assembly, Transfer of the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, 16 May 1980 (A33/47).

Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) of 10 June 1999.

D. Doctrine

R. Higgins, “A Comment on the Current Health of Advisory Opinions”, in V. Lowe and M. Fitzmaurice, (eds.), Fifty Years of the International Court of Justice: Essays in Honour of Sir Robert Jennings, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1996, pp. 567-582.

K. Keith, “The Advisory Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice: Some Comparative Reflections”, Australian Yearbook of International Law, vol. 16, 1996, pp. 39-58.

K. J. Keith, The Extent of the Advisory Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, A. W. Sijthoff, Leyden, 1971.

K. Oellers-Franhm, C. J. Tams, C. Tomuschat, A. Zimmermann, The Statute of the International Court of Justice: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012, particularly articles 65-68, 96.

M. Pomerance, The Advisory Function of the International Court in the League and U.N. Eras, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1973.

D. Pratap, The Advisory Jurisdiction of the International Court, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972.

M. N. Shaw, Rosenne’s Law and Practice of the International Court: 1920-2015, Brill, Leyden, 2016.


The International Court of Justice -
The Reflections of One Judge as He Leaves Office
A. Legal Instruments
B. Jurisprudence

International Court of Justice, Admission of a State to the United Nations (Charter, Art. 4), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1948, p. 57.

International Court of Justice, Corfu Channel case, Judgment of 9 April 1949, I.C.J. Reports 1949, p. 4.

International Court of Justice, Fisheries case, Judgment of 18 December 1951, I.C.J. Reports 1951, p. 116.

International Court of Justice, Certain expenses of the United Nations (Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter), Advisory Opinion of 20 July 1962, I.C.J. Reports 1962, p. 151.

International Court of Justice, North Sea Continental Shelf, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1970, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 16.

International Court of Justice, Trial of Pakistani Prisoners of War, Order of 15 December 1973, I.C.J. Reports 1973, p. 347.

International Court of Justice, Fisheries Jurisdiction (United Kingdom v. Zealand), Merits, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1974, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Merits, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1986, p. 14.

International Court of Justice, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996, p. 226.

International Court of Justice, Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v. Ukraine), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2009, p. 61.

International Court of Justice, Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2010, p. 14.

International Court of Justice, Accordance with International Law of the Universal Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2010, p. 403.

International Court of Justice, Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v. Democratic Republic of the Congo), Merits, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2010, p. 639.

International Court of Justice, Judgment No. 2867 of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization upon a Complaint Filed against the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2012, p. 10.

International Court of Justice, Aerial Herbicide Spraying (Ecuador v. Colombia), Order of 13 September 2013, I.C.J. Reports 2013, p. 278.

International Court of Justice, Maritime Dispute (Peru v. Chile), Judgment of 27 January 2014.

International Court of Justice, Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan: New Zealand intervening), Judgment of 31 March 2014.


Procedure
Aspects of the Judicial Process in
National and International Courts and Tribunals
A. Legal Instruments

Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331.

B. Jurisprudence

Western Samoan Court of Appeal, Attorney General of Western Samoa v. Saipa’ia Olomalu, 14 VUWLR 275 (1982), 26 August 1982.

Arbitral Tribunal, Case concerning the difference between New Zealand and France concerning the interpretation or application of two agreements concluded on 9 July 1986 between the two States and which related to the problems arising from the Rainbow Warrior Affair, Reports of International Arbitral Awards, Vol. XX, pp. 215-284.

International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, Southern Bluefin Tuna (New Zealand v. Japan; Australia v. Japan), Provisional Measures, Order of 27 August 1999, ITLOS Reports 1999, p. 280.

International Court of Justice, Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay), Provisional Measures, Order of 23 January 2007, I.C.J. Reports 2007, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgment of 26 February 2007, I.C.J. Reports 2007, p. 43, para. 160.

Arbitral Tribunal, United Parcel Service of America v. Canada, NAFTA award of 11 June 2007.

C. Documents

International Court of Justice, Resolution concerning the Internal Judicial Practice of the Court, 12 April 1976.

General Assembly resolution 60/1 of 16 September 2005 (2005 World Summit Outcome), para. 134.

International Court of Justice Acts and Documents concerning the Organization of the Court, No. 6 (2007).

For further information on procedures and internal rules of the International Court of Justice, see the official website.

D. Doctrine

L. Collins, Essays in International Litigation and the Conflict of Laws, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993, particularly chapter 1.

P. Freund, “Supreme Court of the United States”, Canadian Bar Review, vol. 29, 1951, p. 1080, quoted in  Supreme Court of Canada, Hunter v. Southam [1984] 2 SCR 641, 649, 17 September 1984.

R. Jennings, “The Internal Judicial Practice of the International Court of Justice”, British Yearbook of International Law, vol. 59, 1988, pp. 31-47.

K.J. Keith, “The World Community and Its Laws”, New Zealand University Law Review, vol. 22, 2006, pp. 9-11.


Interpreting in International Courts and Tribunals
A. Legal Instruments

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331.

Acts Interpretation Act 1901, Australia, in particular sec. 15AA and 15AB.

B. Jurisprudence

Supreme Court of Western Samoa, Attorney-General v. Saipai’a Olomalu [1982] WSCA 1.

Arbitral Tribunal, Interpretation of the Air Transport Services Agreement between the United States of America and Italy, Advisory Opinion of 17 July 1965, Report of International Arbitral Awards, vol. XVI, p. 75. 

International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 16.

International Court of Justice, Dispute regarding Navigational and Related Rights (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2009, p. 213.

Supreme Court of Canada, Pushpanathan v. Canada [1998] 1 SCR 982.

C. Documents

Report of the International Law Commission 1966 (A/CN.4/SER.A/1966/Add.l, reproduced in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1966, vol. II).

D. Doctrine

O. W. Holmes “The Theory of Legal Interpretation”, Harvard Law Review, vol. 12, 1899, pp. 417-420.

K. J. Keith,“Interpreting Treaties, Statutes and Contracts”, New Zealand Centre for Public Law, Occasional Paper No. 19, Wellington, 2009.

A. D. McNair, “The Functions and Differing Legal Character of Treaties”, British Yearbook of International Law, vol. 11, 1930, pp. 100-118.