The Statute of the International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and plays a central role in both the peaceful settlement of international disputes and the development of international law. This comprehensive Commentary on the Statute of the International Court of Justice, now in its second edition, analyses in detail not only the Statute of the Court itself but also the related provisions of the United Nations Charter as well as the relevant provisions of the Court's Rules of Procedure. Five years after the first edition was published, the second edition of the Commentary embraces current events before the International Court of Justice as well as before other courts and tribunals relevant for the interpretation and application of its Statute.

The Commentary provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of all legal questions and issues the Court has had to address in the past and will have to address in the future. It illuminates the central issues of procedure and substance that the Court and counsel appearing before it face in their day-to-day work.

In addition to commentary covering all of the articles of the Statute of the ICJ, plus the relevant articles of the Charter of the United Nations, the book includes three scene-setting chapters: Historical Introduction, General Principles of Procedural Law, and Discontinuation and Withdrawal. The second edition of the Commentary adds two important and instructive chapters on Counter-Claims and Evidentiary Issues.

The combination of expert editors and commentators, and their assessment of new developments in the important work of the ICJ, make this a landmark publication in the field of international law.

Andreas Zimmermann is Professor at the University of Potsdam and Director of the Potsdam Centre of Human Rights. He is a former Member of the German delegation to the Preparatory Committee and the United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, and a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He is co-editor of The Statute of the International Court of Justice - A Commentary' (Oxford University Press, 2006) and editor of the The 1951 Convention on the Status of refugees and its 1967 Protocol - A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Karin Oellers-Frahm is a Senior Researcher (retired) at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg.

Christian Tomuschat is former Professor of Constitutional and International law in Bonn and at Humboldt University Berlin. He was a Member of UN Human Rights Committee, the UN International Law Commission,and Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Guatemala for UN Commission on Human Rights. Professor Tomuschat was President of German Society of International law, is a Member of the Institut de droit international and is Counsel for German Government in proceedings before the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights.

Christian J. Tams is Professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow (U.K.). He is a qualified lawyer in Germany and holds LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cambridge. His research in international law focuses on investment protection, the role of international courts and tribunals, and the law of State responsibility. In addition to his academic work, he has advised states in proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). He is a member of the German Court of Arbitration for Sports and of the ILA Committee on the Use of Force, and has held visiting appointments at universities in China, France and Lithuania.