NCJ Number
122869
Date Published
1987
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the role of the International Court of Justice in the 1984 case of Nicaragua v. United States concludes that international disputes often involve more than two nations and that the current system for dealing with multilateral disputes has serious deficiencies.
Abstract
As the number of nations involved in a dispute increases the probability that the International Court has jurisdiction over all the affected parties decreases. In addition, when the party bringing the case to the court does not seek or cannot establish jurisdiction for all the involved parties, the judicial disposition can have a piecemeal character. Moreover, the problem of multilateral disputes has three aspects: 1) intervention by third parties, 2) the issue of dismissal of a case because of the absence of allegedly indispensable parties, and the effort by the United States to protect itself (Vandenberg Reservation) against possible unfairness in the resolution of disputes under multilateral treaties. The Court could address these issues by adopting a generally liberal attitude toward requests to intervene and viewing with skepticism arguments that the absence of third nations prevents fair adjudication. Finally, the United States should eliminate the Vandenberg Reservation from any future statement of acceptance of International Court jurisdiction. 101 footnotes.