International Court of Justice: Sources of Law Explained

This assignment provides an overview of the sources of law utilized by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It highlights the significance of international treaties and conventions, both bilateral and multilateral, as primary sources. The assignment further discusses the role of international custom, established through consistent state practices, which binds all UN members. The assignment also addresses the consideration of general principles of law, even though they are not formal sources, and how they contribute to the decision-making process, and finally, it explores how past judicial decisions by the ICJ can serve as a source of law, especially when dealing with similar cases. The assignment concludes with a list of references including the Statute of the International Court of Justice and other relevant sources.

What are the sources of law
that the ICJ shall apply, in
accordance with its Statute?

Contents
ANSWER....................................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................4

ANSWER
International Court of Justice has multiple sources of law; this body is responsible for
resolving the cases related to International laws (Weiss and Daws (Eds.), 2018). Every state has
their rules and regulation so it is a complicated task to resolve the cases where both parties
(states) are correct according to their own statutory law. Below are few sources of law for ICJ:
International treaties and convention - These are the agreements between nation which can be
bilateral and plurilateral. Bilateral means between two nation and plurilateral means between
more than two countries. Multilateral tries are also very popular where states make agreement
relating to business, environment or any other significant issue (STATUTE OF THE
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE, 2020).
International custom – It is another important source of law where international obligations
occur because of the established internal practices. It is not related to treaties and conventions,
and honored by all the members of UNO members.
General principles of law – Although it is not considered as formal source of law but ICJ still
consider it at the time of making decision. These are very basic rule which has generic content;
legal system runs because of these principles and they sometime play crucial role in minimizing
complexity in the cases.
Judicial decisions – These are decisions taken in past by Jury of ICJ, they act as a source of law
when similar kind of cases come to ICJ. Court is not bound to considered same decision but if
they think that situation if similar and does not need a trial then they can go with this option.

REFERENCES
Weiss, T. G., & Daws, S. (Eds.). (2018). The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations. Oxford
University Press.
Online
STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE. 2020. [Online]. Available
through <https://www.icj-cij.org/en/statute>