Appendix VII

• Author: Duke Pollard
• Profession: Director of the CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facility and one of the principal consultants on all development aspects of the Caribbean Court of Justice on which he now sits as a Judge
• Pages: 336-355

The Caribbean Court of Justice

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appendix VII

STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF

JUSTICE

June 26, 1945

Article 1

The International Court of Justice established by the Charter

of the United Nations as the principal judicial organ of the United

Nations shall be constituted and shall function in accordance

with the provisions of the present Statute.

CHAPTER I

ORGANIZATION OF THE COURT

Article 2

The Court shall be composed of a body of independent judges,

elected regardless of their nationality from among persons of

high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in

their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial

offices, or are juris-consults of recognized competence in

international law.

Article 3

1. The Court shall consist of fifteen members, no two of

whom may be nationals of the same state.

Appendix VII

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2. A person who for the purposes of membership in the Court

could be regarded as a national of more than one state shall be

deemed to be a national of the one in which he ordinarily exercises

civil and political rights.

Article 4

1. The members of the Court shall be elected by the General

Assembly and by the Security Council from a list of persons

nominated by the national groups in the Permanent Court of

Arbitration, in accordance with the following provisions.

2. In the case of Members of the United Nations not

represented in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, candidates

shall be nominated by national groups appointed for this purpose

by their governments under the same conditions as those

prescribed for members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration

by Article 44 of the Convention of The Hague of 1907 for the

pacific settlement of international disputes.

3. The conditions under which a state which is a party to

the present Statute but is not a Member of the United Nations

may participate in electing the members of the Court shall, in the

absence of a special agreement, be laid down by the General

Assembly upon recommendation of the Security Council.

Article 5

1. At least three months before the date of the election, the

Secretary-General of the United Nations shall address a written

request to the members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration

belonging to the states which are parties to the present Statute,

and to the members of the national groups appointed under Article

4, paragraph 2, inviting them to undertake, within a given time,

by national groups, the nomination of persons in a position to

accept the duties of a member of the Court.

2. No group may nominate more than four persons, not more

than two of whom shall be of their own nationality. In no case

may the number of candidates nominated by a group be more

than double the number of seats to be filled.