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International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is one of the constituent organs of the United Nations system.  According to Article 92 of the UN Charter, all UN members are automatically state parties to the Statute of the ICJ. 

List of Decided Cases:

  • The official ICJ list of cases decided since the court's inception is available here.
  • Unoffficial list of ICJ cases (including several good case briefs)

 

"[Article 94 of the United Nations Charter] is not a directive to domestic courts.  It does not provide that the United States 'shall' or 'must' comply with an ICJ [International Court of Justice] decision, nor indicate that the Senate that ratified the U.N. Charter intended to vest ICJ decisions with immediate legal effect in domestic courts."

"The remainder of Article 94 confirms that the U.N. Charter does not contemplate the automatic enforceability of ICJ decisions in domestic courts.  Article 94(2) - the enforcement provision - provides the sole remedy for noncompliance: referral to the United Nations Security Council by an aggrieved state."

Medellin v. Texas, 128 S. Ct. 1346, 1359 (2008) (citation partially omitted).