Subject guides: International Law: Courts, Tribunals and Case Law

Courts and Tribunals

International Court of Justice
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Website includes information about the court, links to the basic and founding court documents, access to full-text judgments, advisory opinions, other publications, and links to the courts' predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice (1922-1946).
International Criminal Court
Includes information about the court, founding documents, full text access to cases, activity reports, media releases and a "Legal Texts and Tools" research guide.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
Includes information about the Tribunal, full text access to case decisions and Advisory Proceedings, basic court texts , jurisdictional information and links to other relevant publications.
Permanent Court of Arbitration
Includes information about the court, full-text access to case decisions and arbitral awards documentation and information regarding UNCITRAL and UNCLOS, and other documents and resources.
WorldLII International Courts and Tribunals Collection
Extensive links to court and tribunals which regularly consider matters of international and regional law.
Caribbean Court of Justice
In 1973, under the Treaty of Chaguaramas, the Caribbean Community was established. The Caribbean Court of Justice was established in 2001. Website includes information about the court, court instruments, and judgments and proceedings in full-text.
European Court of Human Rights
Includes information about the court, full-text case law, founding texts and documentation and other relevant publications.
European Court of Justice
Includes access to case law from the Court of Justice, General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal of the European Union.
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
Also known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Includes information regarding current cases and case summaries and full-text decisions.
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Includes information about the court, trial broadcasts, case decisions, and resources via a legal library providing access to associated documentation.
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Provides information regarding the genocide of 2004 leading to the establishment of the tribunal, full-text case decisions, and founding documents.
Special Court for Sierra Leone and Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone
Information regarding the court, founding documentation, and full-text case decisions.

Courts, Tribunals and Case Law

Hague Peace Palace, seat of the International Court of Justice

Sources of International Law: Judicial Decisions

A judicial decision can be a decision of an international tribunal or a domestic body regarding a question with international implications, although generally decisions of international tribunals are considered more influential in terms of the development of international law. Consistent decisions of national courts over time carry some impact regarding interpretation.

Since WWII decisions of international tribunals have played an increasingly important role in interpreting rules of international law even though Article 59 of the International Court of Justice Statute provides that such decisions only have application regarding the parties to the particular case in which those decisions are made.

Although the ICJ for example does not treat prior decisions as precedent in the same manner as a domestic common law court, it does attempt to maintain consistency within its decisions via this means.

Source: Gerhard Von Glahn & James Taulbee, Law Among Nations: An Introduction to Public International Law (Longman, 9th ed., 2010)

Useful Commercial Databases

Oxford Reports on International Law
Provides a single point of reference for all international law jurisprudence. Access to all modules: International Courts of General Jurisdiction (ICGJ), International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC), Criminal Law (ICL), Human Rights Law (IHRL), and International Investment Claims.

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