International Legal Adjudication

Traditionally, international law is primarily adjudicated upon by international judicial bodies. In particular, the decisions of the PCIJ and its successor court, the ICJ, often called the “World Court”, command an unrivalled respect in the field. When considering international jurisdiction, it would be usual to start with a reference to “The Lotus” before referring to any of the more recent and more elaborate decisions of other international or national courts. Beginning with the creation of the PCA in The Hague little more than a century ago many international courts have been subsequently established in The Hague and beyond. With the advent of international adjudication international law made an unprecedented development catching the imagination of people beyond the traditional realm of foreign policy makers and the diplomatic elite. It was assumed that international law backed up by international adjudication would eventually create and secure a global community where recourse to force was only permitted in the interest of such community and was best not encountered at all. A world of peace and prosperity was closely associated with the then recently established international adjudicative procedures which it was hoped would settle issues in interstate relationships. Possibly, the state representatives assembled in 1899 and 1907 at the invitation of the Russian Tsar, helped by the brightest lawyers of their era, who created the PCA and the basic instruments of humanitarian international law in The Hague hoped and believed so themselves. Not least the World Wars have taught them differently. The negligent treatment of the organs of the international community by those in power preparing for some military adventures is more than obvious not only in the case of the League of Nations before 1939 but in most military campaigns up to and including the intervention in Iraq by the US-British forces in 2003 or the military forces acting in Kosovo in relation to the United Nations procedures (which will be enforced most diligently by exactly those states if they consider it in their national interests to do so) or the current Colombian military operations in Venezuela and Ecuador. This naturally goes together with a certain disregard for international adjudicative bodies which is felt by some to be an embarrassment. However, their existence and procedures never came under serious threat but developed impressively on the sideline of major political events thriving on the surviving hope of many that they would contribute to a more peaceful and prosperous world which it is still hoped can be achieved by international law and adjudication.