Summary of the Order of 20 January 1982

Summaries of Judgments, ANot an official documenters of the Internationa
l Court of Justice

CASECONCERNING DELIMITATION OFTHEMARITIME BOUNDARY
INTHEGULFOFMhmE AREA(CONSTITUTION OFCHAMBER)

Order of20January 1982

The Court,by an Order, constituteda Chamberto which Ruth, Mosler,da, Ago, Sette-Camara, El-Khanaind
CanadaandtheUnitedStatessubmitteda lor~gstandigis- Schwebel-
puteovertheboundaryseparatingthefishery:zonesandcon- adopted,on 20 January 1982,by 11votes to 2, an Order
tinentalshelfareasofthetwocmuntroffthe:Atlanticcoastwherebyitdulyconstitutedaspecialchambertodealwiththe
intheGulfofMaine. delimitationof themaritime boundary betCanadaand
Thiswasthefirsttimeinthehistoryofthe Courtthatthe theUnitedStatesinthe GulfofMainearea,withthecompo-
partiestoadisputemade useofthepossibilities,embodiedintionhaving resultedfrom the above-mentioned election:
theStatuteandRulesoftheC,ourt,ofsendingtheir caseto audgesCms, Ruda, Mosler,AgoandSchwebel.The Order
chamberinsteadofthefullo~m. notesthat, in applicationof Article31, paragraph4, of the
Detailsof the processby whichthechambwas created Statute of the Court, the Acting President had requested
aregivenbelow. JudgeRII&togiveplaceindue cours tethejudgeadhocto
bechosenbyCanada,andthat Judge Rudahadindicatedhis
readiness todoo.

On25November1981theGovernmentofCanah andthe
GovernmentoftheUnitedStateshadnotified:the:Registry
aSpecialAgreement,concludrdbythem on2'9March1979, Judge Oda appended a declrrafionto Orderof 20
and having enteredinto fome:on 20 November 1981, by January1982.
which theysubmittedtoacharnberoftheCowaquestionas JudgesblorozovandEl-KhanivotedagainsttheOrderasa
tothecours oethemaritimeblundarydividingthecontinen-whole and appendeddissenting opinions giving theirrea-
tal shelf andfisherieszonesof the two PartiGulfof~e Sons-
Mainearea.
TheSpecialAgreementprovidedforthesut~missiofthe SUMMAR OYFTHEDECLARATION
disputeoafive-memberchm.kr tobeconstitutedaftercon- APPENDED TOTHEORDER
sultationwiththe Parties,pursuantto Article 26,paragraJudgeO& indicated that. whihe voted infavourofthe
2, and Article 31 of the Statuteof the Co~ut.Irhese Order,it should havebeen made knownthattheCourt, for
respectivelytheArticlesvitlingfortheestablishmentofareasonslxst knownto itself,hadapproved the composition
chambertodealwithrparticuliucaseandtherightofrParty,oftheCttamberentirelyinaccordancewiththe latestwishes
whenthere is nojudgeof itsnationalityupomthe'bench.tofthePauties.
chooseajudgeadhoctosit inthecase.
The Parties were dulyco~nasula,nd tlheCourt had SUMMAR OFDISSENTINGOPINIONS
alreadybeennotifiedina letterfromtheParties accompany- MENDED TO THE ORDER
ing the submissionof thet:that, sincetheCourtdidnot
includeuponthebenchajudgeof Canadianrationality,the Inhis dissentingopinion,JudgeMorozovstressedthatin
GovernmentofCanada intendedtochooseajudgeQd hoc. substancethe SpecialAgreement between the UnStates
erroneouspresumptionthat, contraryto Article 26, para-
graph2,dthe Statute,thePartieswhopresentedarequestto
createaChamberforconsiderationofaparticularcasemight
not merelychoosewhatshouldbe the number ofthe mem-
bersof tlieChamber,but also formally decideandpropose
Followingadecisioninprir~citoaccedeto theParties' thenamesofjudgeswhoshould beselectedbysecretballot,
requesttoformthe speciala~mbera,nd anelectionheld onandeven present thoseproposalstotheCourtinthe formof
15January 1982,theCourt somekindof "ultimatum".
-composed as follows:ActingPresidentEliur;Judges Inthatsituation,the sovereignrightof the Courttocany
Forster, Gros,Lachs, Morozov, NagendriaSingh, outtheelectionindependently'ofthewishesoftheParties,by

Continued on next pagesecret ballin accordancewiththe provisionsoftheStatute ' an obstacleto the properadministrationofjustice. Further-
andRulesofCourt,became in substancemeaningless. moreitdiminishedtheprestigeoftheCourtandwasharmful
to its dignityas the principal judicialorgan of the United
Fromhis pointof view, the mattercoulclhave beensuc- Nations. It resultedin its regionalization,by deprivingit of
cessfully settledby the Court in February 1982in its new itsbasicandessentialcharacteristicof universality,andpro-
composition. duced theindirectresultoftwojudgesofthesamenationality
Judge El-Khan iotedagainst theOrder,andstatedin his actinginthenamec~f theCourt, oneintheChamber and the
dissenting opinion thatin his opinionthe impositionoan otherin the Court, whichdidnotcorrespondto the Statute.
undulyclosetime-limitfortheChamber'sfalrmationandofa Onthose groundshe foundthat it oughtnot to constitutea
particularcomposition rendered thCourt nolongermaster precedent,asitwouldbeadangerouscoursetofollowinthe
of itsownacts,deprived itof itsfreedomofchoiceandwas future.