The ICJ Statute and Jurisdiction
Understanding the legal framework that governs the Court's power to hear cases and issue rulings.
The ICJ Statute
The Statute of the International Court of Justice is annexed to the UN Charter and forms an integral part of it. Every UN member state is automatically a party to the Statute, and non-member states can become parties under conditions set by the General Assembly on the Security Council's recommendation. The Statute establishes the Court's composition, jurisdiction, procedure, and the binding nature of its judgments.
The Statute contains 70 articles organized into five chapters. It defines the Court as composed of 15 independent judges elected for nine-year terms, sets out the two types of proceedings (contentious cases and advisory opinions), and specifies the sources of international law the Court must apply: treaties, customary international law, general principles of law, and judicial decisions and scholarly writings as subsidiary means.