Precedent in the World Court (Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lectures (No. 13))

Cover......Page 1
Frontmatter......Page 2
Contents......Page 10
Foreword......Page 14
Preface......Page 18
List of abbreviations......Page 19
Decisional authority......Page 22
The juridical basis of the Court's functions......Page 24
The concept of precedents......Page 27
Different ways in which a system of precedents may operate......Page 30
Increase in the relative importance of case law......Page 34
The experience of the Permanent Court of International Justice......Page 37
Continuity in the judicial system......Page 43
Reliance by the International Court of Justice on the practice of the Permanent Court of International Justice......Page 44
Reliance by the International Court of Justice on its own case law......Page 47
The importance which the Court attaches to its case law......Page 50
Accessibility......Page 53
Range of admissible precedents......Page 56
The general jurisprudential basis......Page 61
The specific statutory basis......Page 68
Ambivalence in the work of the Committee......Page 69
Some draft schemes assumed that the Court would make law......Page 70
The drafting of Article 38 of the Statute......Page 73
The right of intervention......Page 76
Draft intervention schemes......Page 82
The object of Article 59 of the Statute......Page 84
Introductory remarks......Page 88
Whether precedents can serve only as inputs in the processes of creating customary law......Page 90
The Court's `function is to decide in accordance with international law'......Page 94
Judicial decisions may operate in two ways......Page 97
Judicial dicta on the point......Page 104
Scholarly opinion......Page 107
Possible instances of judicial law-making......Page 111
Conclusion and caveat......Page 112
Stare decisis does not apply......Page 118
Stare decisis and the Statute......Page 120
Judicial dicta on the point......Page 123
Scholarly opinion......Page 124
To hold that the Court can create law does not imply that stare decisis applies......Page 126
The exclusion of stare decisis does not also exclude the precedential force of decisions of the Court......Page 128
Introductory remarks......Page 131
The case may not have established the principle for which it is cited......Page 133
The principle of the case may be qualified by later legal developments......Page 135
The legal or factual framework may be significantly different......Page 138
But differences do not always preclude recourse to a precedent......Page 140
Case law is not statute law......Page 143
The relevance of arguments......Page 145
Limits to the utility of distinguishing as a method of developing the law......Page 146
Existence of the power to depart from a previous decision......Page 149
Undesirability of a departure sub silentio......Page 151
The power to depart is to be exercised with caution......Page 152
The extent to which the power to depart is exercisable......Page 155
Absence of argument......Page 157
The standing of a particular bench......Page 162
Unanimity and the question of authority......Page 163
Changes in the composition of the Court......Page 166
Can the Court overrule?......Page 168
Possible cases of departure......Page 170
Introductory remarks......Page 173
The distinction at the level of the Court......Page 174
The distinction at the level of individual opinions......Page 181
The interplay between motifs and dispositif......Page 182
Precedential value of advisory opinions......Page 186
Precedential value of decisions of a chamber......Page 192
Introductory remarks......Page 198
Holdings resting on a false consensus......Page 201
Criticism of judgment......Page 202
A dissent on a point may not necessarily oppose the majority view on the point......Page 207
When a judge is bound by the decision of the Court......Page 209
The utility of separate opinions and dissenting opinions......Page 212
Individual opinions are part of the collective work of the Court......Page 216
The Court's view......Page 221
The influence of the legal cultures represented in the Court......Page 224
Some practical effects......Page 230
The influence of case law on the litigation strategy of parties......Page 234
Judicial self-restraint......Page 236
The scope of the Court's developmental function......Page 242
15 - Conclusion......Page 255
Index......Page 263