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

Author: Shao Shaping, Editor-in-Chief
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 (ICJ). 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. This section of the book has the following characteristics:
1. The materials are sourced from the primary documents of the ICJ's English-language cases. In selecting case materials, it strives to "present facts as they are" to reflect the original context of each case, avoiding subjective bias or distorting the actual circumstances of the cases.
2. In the judgment section of each case, it not only includes the legally binding decisions of the court but also attaches the relevant statements, separate opinions, and dissenting opinions of the judges. These statements, opinions, and dissents help us to analyze the court's judgments and the international law issues involved from broader and deeper perspectives.
3. In the legal commentary section, it generally selects two key issues to compare and analyze the ICJ's judgments in relation to the rule of international law from multiple and comprehensive angles. That is, using the issues raised in the cases and court judgments as an important criterion, it conducts a vertical comparison between the court's decisions in this case and its decisions in similar past cases, as well as a horizontal comparison of the court's decisions or judges' opinions in the context of international treaties and legal practices. This approach aims to draw reasonable and credible conclusions about theoretical and practical issues such as the benefits of the ICJ's practice in the rule of international law, the impact of the ICJ's practice on international law, and the challenges and new developments in international law. Examining the ICJ's practice in conjunction with the rule of international law is a key feature of this section's legal commentary and also the main thread of the book's research.
Chapter 21, titled "The ICJ and the Rule of International Law," summarizes and comments on the recent practices of the ICJ in contentious and advisory jurisdiction.
After the main text, the appendices of the book include a bilingual glossary of specialized terms and a case index in both Chinese and English.