Posted: January 9th, 2016

International Law- International Court of Justice

The Chief Justice of Betazed has been chosen to sit on the Bench of the International Court of Justice as an ad hoc judge in a case now before the Court. She has not studied international law and is having some difficulty in dealing with the mass of different materials submitted as part of the written proceedings. These materials include:

(a)​a treaty to which both states are party, although one state has registered some reservations to articles of the treaty;

(b)​a UN General Assembly Resolution for which the votes were recorded as 165:15:13;

(c)​a previous decision of the International Court of Justice;

(d)​an article in the American Journal of International Law by an Oxford University Professor; discussing a general principle of law relied on by one of the parties to the case;

(e)​a legal opinion written by the Senior Legal Advisor to the Foreign Ministry of one of the parties and published in that state’s Legislative Record.

Prepare a brief note for the Chief Justice outlining the sources of and evidence for international law, in the course of which you should advise her on the factors she should be taking into account when according appropriate emphasis to the above materials.