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Mr. Christian J. Tams

Mr. Christian J. Tams
Chair of International Law
School of Law
University of Glasgow

BiographyBiography in PDF

Courts and Tribunals
International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The Development of International Law by the International Court of Justice
Video | Audio
(15/8/2016, 38 minutes)
Courts and Tribunals
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The Development of International Law by the International Court of Justice
A. Legal Instruments

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

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

Convention on the High Seas, Geneva, 29 April 1958, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 450, p. 11.

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

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, New York, 10 December 1984, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1465, p. 85.

B. Jurisprudence

Permanent Court of International Justice, The Mavrommatis Palestine Concessions (Greece v. United Kingdom), Judgment of 30 August 1924, P.C.I.J., Series A, No. 2.

Permanent Court of International Justice, The Case of the S.S. “Lotus” (France v. Turkey), Judgment of 7 September 1927, P.C.I.J., Series A, No. 10.

Permanent Court of International Justice, The Factory at Chorzow (Germany v. Poland), Judgment of 26 July 1927, P.C.I.J., Series A., No. 9.

International Court of Justice, Reservations to the Convention on Genocide, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1951, p. 15.

International Court of Justice, Nottebohm Case (second phase), Judgment of 6 April 1955, I.C.J. Reports 1955, p. 4.

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

International Court of Justice, Elettronica Sicula S.p.A. (ELSI), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1989, p. 15.

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, Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Belgium), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2002, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Application for Revision of the Judgment of 11 July 1996 in the Case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia), Preliminary Objections (Yugoslavia v. Bosnia and Herzegovina), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2003, p. 7.

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, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2007, p. 43.

International Court of Justice, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia), Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2008, p. 412.

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, Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Georgia v. Russian Federation), Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2011, p. 70.

International Court of Justice, Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2012, p. 99.

International Court of Justice, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia), Judgment of 3 February 2015.

C. Doctrine

C. E. Hughes, “Speech before the Chamber of Commerce, Elmira, New York (3 May 1907)”, in Addresses and Papers of Charles Evans Hughes, Governor of New York, 1906–1908, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, London, 1908, particularly p. 139.

G. Fitzmaurice, “Hersch Lauterpacht – The Scholar as Judge: Part I”, British Yearbook of International Law, vol. 37, 1961, pp. 18-19.

Montesquieu, De l’Esprit des lois, livre XI, 1748, chapitre VI.

O’Connell, International Law, vol. I, Stevens and Sons, London, 1965, particularly p. 30.

A. Pellet, “The International Court of Justice and the Political Organs of the United Nations: Some Further but Cursory Remarks”, in F. Salerno (ed.), Il Ruolo del Giudice Internazionale Nell’Evoluzione del Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario, CEDAM, Padua, 1995, pp. 115-124.

G. Schwarzenberger, International Law as Applied by International Courts and Tribunals, vol. I, 3rd ed., Stevens and Sons, London, 1957, p. 32.

B. Sepúlveda Amor, “The International Court of Justice and the Law of the Sea”, Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional, 2012, pp. 3-26, particularly p. 8.