World Court decisions are being made available for the first time on the Internet, courtesy of the Cornell Law School.
Official decisions of the International Court of Justice, as well as other court-related documents, are being posted, beginning this week, on Cornell Law School's World Wide Web page at http://www.law.cornell.edu/icj/.
The International Court of Justice, whose seat is at the Hague, Netherlands, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and is considered the world's supreme judicial body. The Web site is available in both English and French, the two official languages of the UN.
"We will receive the decisions directly from the World Court, thereby ensuring their authenticity," said Claire M. Germain, professor of law and the Edward Cornell Law Librarian.
"By using the Internet, we are making World Court decisions accessible worldwide at the touch of a button," Germain said. "This development will not only bring greater awareness to World Court decisions, but it also will strengthen research in a number of related areas, such as international law, international affairs, political science and the United Nations."
David Wippman, associate professor of law who specializes in international law, said the World Court Web site will be a valuable service. "There is at present no reliable way to obtain authoritative and complete copies of current decisions as they are handed down," he said. "Interested parties must either suffer the long delays associated with publication in professional journals or hunt for an often unreliable Internet source. Placing official versions of World Court decisions on a single Web site will prove to be an enormous aid to anyone interested in contemporary international law or foreign affairs."
The International Court of Justice Web page will feature the World Court's annual report, biographical information and photos of the judges, press releases and the texts of the four decisions rendered so far in 1996.
Germain said the offer for the Law School to post World Court decisions on its Web site came from World Court Judge Stephen M. Schwebel of the United States. "He wrote and phoned us about the idea, and we immediately took him up on his offer," she said. "We are ecstatic about this collaboration with the World Court."
Cornell Law School Dean Russell K. Osgood said the World Court connection seems to be a natural for the law school.
"This match fits in with our current programs, especially the successful Berger International Legal Studies Program," Osgood said. The Berger Program fosters instruction and research in public international law and international economic law and offers various degree options, including a four-year joint degree program with l'Université de Paris I, which leads to both an American juris doctorate and the equivalent of a French juris doctorate.
"The development of this program is also an indication of the important cooperation among faculty, students, the law library, the law school and its Legal Information Institute," Osgood said.
Future plans for the Web site include creating a link for scholarly analysis of World Court decisions and a complete archive of World Court decisions, dating back to the court's 1946 inaugural session.