UN Documentation: International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the UN. 

• International Court of Justice website
• Established through the adoption of the UN Charter and Statute of the ICJ in 1945;
• Current status available from the UN Treaty Collection;
• Located in The Hague, The Netherlands;
• Successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice;
• Reports to the General Assembly 
  • Supplement 4 to the General Assembly Official Records (GAOR)
  • A/session/4
  • example: A/75/4

The Court has two functions:

• To settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted by States, and
• To give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs and specialized agencies.

The Court sits in the Peace Palace, along with other institutions concerned with international law, including the Peace Palace Library. The Peace Palace Library is not a UN body.  It provides excellent research guides on a variety of international law topics.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has two main functions:

• To settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted by States,
  • Called contentious cases;
  • Can issue court orders and judgments;
  • Individual judges or groups of judges may write separate or dissenting opinions;
  • There may be both written and oral proceedings; 
• To give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs and specialized agencies,
  • Called advisory proceedings;
  • Can issue court orders and advisory opinions;
  • Individual judges or groups of judges can also write separate or dissenting opinions;
  • There may be written and oral statements.

In print, the case materials are issued as separate documents, then reissued in two series:

• Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders
  • Cited as ICJ Reports, with the year;
  • Compiled all the court-produced documents in chronological order for a given year;
  • Published in English and French on opposite pages;
  • Indexed in English and French.
• Pleadings, Oral Arguments, Documents
  • Cited as ICJ Pleadings, with the case name and volume;
  • Compiled party-produced documents in chronological order for a given case;
  • Issued in multiple volumes per case;
  • Documents in English or French.

On the ICJ website, the material has been reorganized by case.

• For each contentious case, there is a page for some or all of the following:
  • Application;
  • Incidental proceedings;
  • Written proceedings;
  • Oral proceedings;
  • Orders;
  • Judgments;
  • Summaries of judgments and orders;
  • Press Releases.
• For each advisory proceeding, there is a page for some or all of the following:
  • Request for advisory opinion;
  • Written statements;
  • Oral statements;
  • Orders;
  • Advisory opinions;
  • Summaries of advisory opinions and orders;
  • Press releases;
  • Correspondence.
• The subject indexes included in the ICJ Reports are not found on the website.

For cases completed before the website was created, the material has been extracted from the ICJ Reports and the ICJ Pleadings. 

• Though both the ICJ Reports and the ICJ Pleadings were digitized, it can sometimes be challenging to identify which case contains the information needed, using only a citation. If the case is not mentioned in the citing text, a search of secondary sources may provide clues. Alternatively, the print editions may be consulted.
• WorldLII is a non-UN website that provides searchable access to ICJ Decisions and Transcripts by year.

The Summaries of judgments, advisory opinions and orders of the ICJ are available in all six official UN languages;

• Document series symbol
  • ST/LEG/SER.F/1/Add.6 (2013-2017)
  • ST/LEG/SER.F/1/Add.5 (2008-2012)
  • ST/LEG/SER.F/1/Add.3 (2003-2007)
  • ST/LEG/SER.F/1/Add.2 (1997-2002)
  • ST/LEG/SER.F/1/Add.1 (1992-1996)
  • ST/LEG/SER.F/1 (1948-1991)
  • Unpublished summaries are available on the website.

The ICJ website has the latest versions of the basic texts:

The website also has information about the main publications of the ICJ:

The Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) was provided for in the Covenent of the League of Nations.

• Between 1922 and 1940 the PCIJ dealt with 29 contentious cases between States, and delivered 27 advisory opinions;
• The ICJ is the successor to the PCIJ; 
• PCIJ publications have been digitized and are available on ICJ website.

PCIJ publications

• Series A: Collection of Judgments, 1923-1930
• Series B: Collection of Advisory Opinions, 1922 - 1930
• Series AB: Collection of Judgments, Orders and Advisory Opinions
• Series C: Acts and documents relating to Judgments and Advisory Opinions given by the Court
• Series D: Acts and Documents concerning the organization of the Court
  • Includes Statute and Rules of the Court
• Series E: Annual reports
• Series F: Catalogue of publications

Russian: Международный Суд

Spanish: Corte Internacional de Justicia