CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

MILAN LIPOVSKÝ CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ EXISTENCE OF A DISPUTE IN FRONT OF THE ICJ Milan Lipovský Abstract: In contentious proceedings the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ, Court) is based on consent of Parties to the dispute. This fact is related to many procedural aspects, e.g. the fact that both the Applicant and the Respondent need to either conclude a special agreement (compromis), or declare that they accept the Court’s jurisdiction, or refer to a jurisdictional clause in a treaty they are both parties to. In some cases the Statute of the International Court of Justice and some jurisdictional clauses require a legal dispute to exist between the parties. The Court and its predecessor (the Permanent Court of International Justice) have developed case-law defining the dispute; however this case-law has been considerably modified by new judgments in the Cases of Obligations Concerning Negotiations Relating to Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament in 2016. This article discusses the original requirements and the newly added one as to the existence of a dispute. Resumé: Ve sporném řízení je jurisdikce Mezinárodního soudního dvora (MSD, Soud) založena na souhlasu obou stran sporu. Tento fakt se odráží v mnoha procesních aspek- tech, například v tom, že jak stěžovatel, tak odpůrce musí například buďto sjednat speciální mezinárodní smlouvu ( compromis ), nebo prohlásit, že přijímají jurisdikci Soudu, anebo od- kázat na kompromisní/jurisdikční doložku ve smlouvě, jíž jsou oba stranami. V některých případech však Statut Mezinárodního soudního dvora a některé kompromisní doložky dále vyžadují existenci právního sporu. Kolem tohoto termínu pak Soud (a jeho předchůdce Stálý dvůr mezinárodní spravedlnosti) vyvinul judikaturu, která však byla nedávno výraz- ně pozměněna rozsudky v případech Závazků týkajících se vyjednávání ohledně ukončení závodů v jaderném zbrojení a jaderného odzbrojení z roku 2016. Tento článek se zabývá původními požadavky na existenci sporu a novému, který byl přidán. Key words: International Court of Justice, existence of a dispute, objective awareness test. On the author: JUDr. Milan Lipovský, Ph.D. is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of International Law of the Faculty of Law of the Charles University. Introduction As is well known, the International Court of Justice (hereinafter referred to as the “ICJ” or “the Court”) is one of the main bodies of the United Nations. As such it is dealt with in chapter XIV of the United Nations Charter. 1 Except for the Charter there are other basic documents that need to be taken into account when discussing the Court. According to art. 93 (1) of the Charter, “[a] ll Members of the United Nations are ipso facto parties to the Statute of the International Court of Justice ” (hereinafter referred to as “the Statute”), the Statute forms an integral part of the Charter and is annexed to it. 2 Last but not least, according to art. 30 of the Statute the Court is empowered to issue the rules of procedure. The 1.

1 Charter of the United Nations, 892 UNTS 119, concluded on June 26, 1945, entered into force on October 24, 1945. 2 UN Charter, art. 92.

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