International Court of Justice Recent Case Studies (1990-2003)

Author: Shao Shaping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: This book is structured into twenty-one chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the International Court of Justice. From Chapter 2 to Chapter 20, it analyzes and discusses 17 contentious cases and 2 advisory opinions. Each chapter consists of three parts: case summary, case procedure and judgment, and legal commentary. The content of this section has the following characteristics:
1. The materials are sourced from the primary documents of the International Court of Justice in English. In the selection of case materials, an effort is made to "be realistic" and reflect the actual circumstances of each case, avoiding personal biases that might distort the facts.
2. In each case's judgment section, not only are the legally binding decisions of the court stated, but also the relevant statements, separate opinions, and dissenting opinions of the judges are included. These statements, opinions, and dissenting views help us to think about the court's judgments and the international law issues involved from a broader and deeper perspective.
3. In the legal commentary section, two issues are generally selected to comprehensively and multi-angle compare and analyze the court's judgments in relation to international legal governance. That is, using the issues raised in the cases and the court's judgments as an important criterion, a vertical comparison is made between the court's decisions in this case and its decisions in similar past cases, and a horizontal comparison is made between the court's decisions or judges' opinions and their reflection in international treaties and legal practices. Thus, reasonable and credible conclusions can be drawn on theoretical and practical issues such as the benefits of the International Court of Justice's practice in international law, the impact of the court's practice on international law, and the challenges and new developments in international law faced by the court. Examining the practice of the International Court of Justice in conjunction with international legal governance is an important feature of this section's legal commentary and also the main thread that runs through the research of this book.
Chapter 21, titled "The International Court of Justice and International Legal Governance," summarizes and comments on the recent practice of the court in contentious and advisory proceedings.
After the main text, the appendices of this book include a bilingual glossary of specialized terms and a case index in both Chinese and English.