---
title: "ICJ vs ICC: Jurisdiction & Landmark Cases Compared"
description: "Compare the ICJ and ICC across their statutes, jurisdiction and landmark cases, with the contentious questions of consent, enforcement and immunity clearly."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/exam-global-institutions-icj-icc"
---

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ICJ & ICC

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# ICJ & ICC

The ICJ and ICC compared: their statutes, jurisdiction, landmark cases, and the contentious questions of state consent, enforcement, and immunity.

## Two distinct courts at The Hague

The most common error in answer-writing is conflating the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with the International Criminal Court (ICC). They share a city—The Hague—and little else.

The **ICJ** is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, established by Article 92 of the UN Charter and governed by the **Statute of the ICJ**, which is annexed to and forms an integral part of the Charter. Every UN member is automatically a party to the Statute (Article 93). It succeeded the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ, 1922–1946) of the League era. The ICJ adjudicates disputes **between states only** (Article 34 of its Statute) and renders advisory opinions to authorised UN organs. It sits with **15 judges** elected for nine-year terms by the General Assembly and Security Council voting separately and concurrently (Articles 4 and 8). No two judges may be nationals of the same state.

The **ICC**, by contrast, is a treaty-based court created by the **Rome Statute of 1998**, which entered into force on **1 July 2002** after 60 ratifications. It is **not** a UN organ. It prosecutes **individuals**—not states—for the gravest crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes (Articles 6, 7, 8) and, since the Kampala amendments adopted in 2010 and activated in 2017, the crime of aggression (Article 8 bis). The ICC is a court of **complementarity** (Article 17): it acts only where a state is unwilling or genuinely unable to prosecute. It has 18 judges and a Prosecutor as an independent organ.

## Jurisdiction rests on consent

Neither court has compulsory universal jurisdiction. The ICJ's contentious jurisdiction depends on state **consent**, expressed through (a) a special agreement (compromis), (b) a compromissory clause in a treaty, or (c) the **optional clause declaration** under Article 36(2) of the Statute. India filed such a declaration but with wide reservations; the United States withdrew its declaration in 1985 after the *Nicaragua v. United States* judgment (1986), which found the US in breach of customary law for mining Nicaraguan harbours.

The ICC's jurisdiction (Article 12) is triggered when the accused is a national of a state party, or the crime occurred on a state party's territory, or the **Security Council refers** a situation under Chapter VII (Article 13(b))—as it did for Darfur (Resolution 1593, 2005) and Libya (Resolution 1970, 2011). The Council may also defer an investigation for 12 months under Article 16. The United States, Russia, China and India are **not** parties to the Rome Statute—a recurring high-yield fact.

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