Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Zimmermann, Oellers-Frahm, Tomuschat, & Tams: The Statute of the International Court of Justice: A Commentary (Second Edition)

Andreas Zimmermann (Universität Potsdam - Law), Karin Oellers-Frahm (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law), Christian Tomuschat (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Law), & Christian J. Tams (Univ. of Glasgow - Law) have published the second edition of The Statute of the International Court of Justice: A Commentary (Oxford Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and plays a central role in both the peaceful settlement of international disputes and the development of international law. This comprehensive Commentary on the Statute of the International Court of Justice, now in its second edition, analyses in detail not only the Statute of the Court itself but also the related provisions of the United Nations Charter as well as the relevant provisions of the Court's Rules of Procedure. Five years after the first edition was published, the second edition of the Commentary embraces current events before the International Court of Justice as well as before other courts and tribunals relevant for the interpretation and application of its Statute.

The Commentary provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of all legal questions and issues the Court has had to address in the past and will have to address in the future. It illuminates the central issues of procedure and substance that the Court and counsel appearing before it face in their day-to-day work.

In addition to commentary covering all of the articles of the Statute of the ICJ, plus the relevant articles of the Charter of the United Nations, the book includes three scene-setting chapters: Historical Introduction, General Principles of Procedural Law, and Discontinuation and Withdrawal. The second edition of the Commentary adds two important and instructive chapters on Counter-Claims and Evidentiary Issues.