The Development of International Law by the International Court of Justice
ISBN: 9780191747922
Platform/Publisher: Oxford Academic / Oxford University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited



This book traces the impact that the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has had on various areas of international law. A number of prominent international experts examine whether, and to what extent, international law has been shaped by the Court's jurisprudence. The informal development of international law through the Court's judgments contrasts with the development of international law through more deliberate means, such as treaty-making. Assessing key areas of international law over which the ICJ has exercised its jurisdiction, such as international environmental law, international human rights, the law of the sea, and the law of immunities, this book comprehensively details the impact of international jurisprudence on contemporary international law.

Continuing the work started by Sir Hersch Lauterpacht's influential book The Development of International Law by the Permanent Court of International Justice, this book provides key new insights into the role of the Court in wider international law. It makes required reading for anyone studying the ways in which international courts have in shaped the evolution of international law.


Christian J. Tams is Professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow's School of Law, where he teaches international law at the undergraduate and graduate levels and directs the Law School's LLM programme. Prior to this, he was assistant professor at the Walther Schucking Institute of International Law at the University of Kiel, Germany, to which he remains affiliated. He is a qualified German lawyer, and holds an LL.M. and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He has frequently written on the law and practice of the International Court of Justice.

James Sloan is a member of faculty at the University of Glasgow, School of Law where he teaches courses in the United Nations, International Human Rights and International Criminal law at the Honours and Masters levels. Before joining the School of Law, he qualified as a lawyer in Ontario and New York and worked in Toronto for several years. Subsequently, he worked in a number of capacities at the international level. Among other positions held, he was Political Advisor and Acting Head of Mission for a UN peace operation in Papua New Guinea, Legal Advisor to the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva and a Legal Assistant at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
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