Research Guides: Document Symbols & Series Symbols: ICJ/--

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

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

Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders / International Court of Justice
Contains the decisions of the Court in both English and French;
Each decision is published as soon as possible after it has been given, in an unbound fascicle;
The fascicles are compiled annually with an index.
Pleadings, Oral Arguments, Documents / International Court of Justice
Volumes in this series are published after the termination of each case;
Contain the documentation relating to the case in the original language, i.e. English or French;
This comprises the document instituting proceedings, the written pleadings and (selected) annexes, the verbatim record of the oral proceedings, any documents submitted to the Court after the closure of the written proceedings, and selected correspondence.
Acts and Documents / International Court of Justice
This series contains the Charter of the United Nations, the Statute and Rules of Court and Practice Directions as well as other basic texts.
Yearbook / International Court of Justice
Covers the work of the Court from from 1 August of the preceding year to 31 July of the current year;
Also issued in French (Annuaire).
Bibliography / International Court of Justice
Each year the Registry issues a Bibliography listing such works and documents relating to the Court as have come to its attention during the previous year.

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.