What is it about?
The book covers the life, scholarship, and, especially, the declarations and the separate and dissenting opinions of the 'later jurists', i.e., the last five of the British members of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - namely, Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice (1960 to 1973), Sir Humphrey Waldock (1973 to 1981), Sir Robert Jennings (1982 to 1995, plus one case as an ad hoc judge in 1998), Dame Rosalyn Higgins (1995 to 2009), and Sir Christopher Greenwood (2009 to 2018). During the monograph, the author progresses, and at the end of it brings together, elements of a British approach to international justice - and concludes that the work of these judges - together with their predecessors at the Court, i.e., Baron Arnold McNair (1946 to 1955) and Sir Hersch Lauterpacht (1955 to 1960) made an invaluable contribution towards the jurisprudence and workings of the international court.
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Why is it important?
As explained on Kudos in relation to this book's predecessor, which is entitled 'The British Judges of the International Court of Justice: An Explication? Overview, McNair and Lauterpacht', the United Kingdom contributed a member to the international court from the foundation of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) in 1922 until the termination of the term of Sir Christopher Greenwood as a member of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2018. As there seem to be no plans to reinstate the British seat at the international court, this period is discrete, and can be looked at as a unit in order to explore whether there is a distinct British contribution to the Court. The research focuses on the 72 years from which the ICJ commenced its operations in 1946, until 2018 - a time during which there were sequentially seven British members of the Court. The present monograph titled 'The British Judges of the International Court of Justice: An Explication? The Later Jurists' considers the contribution of the last five British judges - i.e., Fitzmaurice, Waldock, Jennings, Higgins and Greenwood.
Perspectives
This project on the British Judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had to be completed. And it duly was. In addition, the 'later jurists' had their own characteristics - for instance, Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice was a master of procedural detail, Sir Humphrey Waldock's work exuded wisdom and decency, and Dame Rosalyn Higgins thoroughly collated and reported United Nations' peacekeeping operations during the early years of the functioning of the United Nations. All contributed to a seemingly British approach to international justice, which was developed by the earlier British judges, and which has certain facets - such as: (1) familiarity with, and reference to, previous judgments of the ICJ and of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and of the judicial opinions of their predecessors, and (2) the preference of the application of law over the contemplation of politics, within their judicial opinions.
Dr Graeme Baber
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The British Judges of the International Court of Justice: An Explication? The Later Jurists, January 2022, Nova Science Publishers, Inc.,
DOI: 10.52305/pyup1136.
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