International Court of Justice Resources

Official Publications of the ICJ

• Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions, & Orders: Advisory opinions and orders of the Court are printed chronologically and each issue volume has indexes and a table of contents. The original is printed on the left-hand page and the translation is on the right-hand page. Both pages carry the same number, but on the top outside corner you will find the running number of the annual volume (which you should cite) and on the bottom outside corner, the page number in the fascicle.
• Pleadings, Oral Arguments, & Documents: This publication contains the documents instituting the proceedings, the written proceedings, the oral proceedings, documents filed after the closure of the written proceedings, and correspondence relating to the case. Occasionally, documentary annexes are omitted.
• Communiqué: Press releases which often print summaries of proceedings. This is also a good means to keep up-to-date with the ICJ.
• Bibliography of the ICJ: Annual bibliography by subject and decision. Each issue contains a cumulative author/subject index for all issues published since the last cumulation. So far, two cumulations have been published covering 1946-1964 and 1965-1980. United Nations materials related to the court are also covered.
• ICJ Yearbook: Contains biographies of judges, discussions of cases before the Court, list of cases decided in the PCIJ and ICJ. Information on discussions of the ICJ in the UN is also given.
• Annual Report to the UN General Assembly : Appears in the Official Records of the General Assembly as Supplement No. 4. This is an abridged version of the ICJ Yearbook.
• Basic Documents About the Court: Contains basic documents on the Court including rules of the Court, the Charter, and the Statute.

Unofficial Reporters of the ICJ

• International Legal Materials, ILS RR JX 68.I5, or the Journal du Droit International (in French and sometimes referred to as Clunet) ILS RR K 10.O72: these periodicals publish decision much more quickly than they appear in the official sources; however, only selected decisions are published.
• International Law Reports: ILR has indexes and tables of cases and provides reports of cases from 1950. ILS RR JX 68 .A65 It continues the Annual Digest and Reports of Public International Law Cases
• Annual Digest and Reports of Public International Law Cases: Provides full coverage of early cases, from 1919 through approximately 1949. It is continued byInternational Law Reports

On-line and Internet Sources for the ICJ

On-line Sources

• Westlaw: ICJ decisions are in the INT-ICJ database, with coverage beginning in 1947. The database includes the published Report of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders, as well as new documents as they are released, prior to publication in paper form. Westlaw features available include star paging to the official ICJ publication (when available), FIND command for retrieving cases with a citation, Westlaw in Natural (WIN, natural language searching), and Keycite for verification of citations. In the ILM database, selected decisions as published by International Legal Materials can be found, with coverage beginning in 1980.
• Lexis: Provides coverage of International Legal Materials from 1980 forward in its INTLAW library, ILM file.

Internet Sources

• The Official ICJ Homepage (https://www.icj-cij.org):
  This site offers a choice of language, English or French, and provides access to recent press communiqués, important basic documents related to the I CJ, the current court docket and composition. All contentious cases and advisory opinions referred to the courts since 1946 are available full-text. They are presented in reverse chronological order and also in alphabetical order by country.
• Cornell Law School ICJ Page (https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library/cijwww/):
  This is a mirror site of the ICJ Official Homepage listed above.

United Nations resources

• Charter of the United Nations
• UN: Purposes, principles and membership
• United Nations organs
• UN Pacific settlement of disputes
• UN: International cooperation and the ESC
• UN International Trusteeship system
• UN International Court of Justice
• United Nations Secretariat
• Other provisions

Charter

CHAPTER XIV
THE International Court of Justice
Article 92
The International Court of Justice shall be the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It
shall function in accordance with the annexed Statute, which is based upon the Statute of the
Permanent Court of International Justice and forms an integral part of the present Charter.
Article 93
1. All Members of the United Nations are ipso facto parties to the Statute of the
International Court of Justice.
2. A state which is not a Member of the United Nations may become a party to the Statute
of the International Court of Justice on conditions to be determined in each case by the
General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
Article 94
1. Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to comply with the decision of the
International Court of Justice in any case to which it is a party.
2. If any party to a case fails to perform the obligations incumbent upon it under a
judgment rendered by the Court, the other party may have recourse to the Security
Council, which may, if it deems necessary, make recommendations or decide upon
measures to be taken to give effect to the judgment.
Article 95
Nothing in the present Charter shall prevent Members of the United Nations from entrusting the solution of their differences to other tribunals by virtue of agreements already in existence or which may be concluded in the future.
Article 96
1. The General Assembly or the Security Council may request the International Court of
Justice to give an advisory opinion on any legal question.
2. Other organs of the United Nations and specialized agencies, which may at any time be
so authorized by the General Assembly, may also request advisory opinions of the
Court on legal questions arising within the scope of their activities.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Charter of the United Nations, International Court of Justice, Other provisions, Statute of the International Court of Justice, UN International Trusteeship system, UN Pacific settlement of disputes, UN: International cooperation and the ESC, UN: Purposes, principles and membership, United Nations Secretariat, United Nations organs.