Case concerning Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention arising from the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie

Abstract

1Air — Crimes against aircraft — Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, 1971 — Scope of Convention — Whether applicable to allegations of State terrorism — System of aut dedere aut punire — Dispute settlement mechanism — ApplicabilityExtradition — General principles — Whether State under a duty to extradite in the absence of an extradition treaty — Anti-terrorist conventions — Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, 1971 — Extradition provisions — Whether State required to extradite own nationals — Whether Montreal Convention creating exclusive system — Demand for surrender of accused persons outside the context of the ConventionInternational Court of Justice — Composition of bench — Judge ad hoc — Statute of the Court, Article 31(5) — Rules of Court, Articles 36 and 37 — Whether two States parties in the same interest — Circumstances in which judge disqualified from hearing case — Right of Party to case to nominate judge ad hoc to replace judge disqualified from sittingInternational Court of Justice — Jurisdiction — Date at which jurisdiction to be established — Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, 1971, Article 14(1) — Extent of jurisdiction conferred upon International Court of Justice — Conditions for seising International Court of Justice — Definition of a dispute — Existence of a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention — The effect of United Nations Security Council Resolutions upon jurisdiction under Article 14(1) — Admissibility — Date at which question of admissibility to be determinedInternational Court of Justice — Preliminary objections — Rules of Court, Article 79 — Objection possessing an exclusively preliminary character — Joinder of objection to the merits — Admissibility — Effect of Security Council Resolutions on dispute — Whether rendering Application without objectInternational organizations — United Nations — Security 2Council — Powers to maintain international peace and security — United Nations Charter, 1945, Chapter VII — Power to characterize situation as a threat to international peace and security — Acts of terrorism — Power to require State to take specified actions — Security Council requiring State to surrender terrorist suspects for trial — Security Council Resolutions 731 (1992), 748 (1992) and 883 (1993) — Effect — Binding character — United Nations Charter, Articles 25 and 103 — Whether affecting admissibility of Application — Whether rendering Application to Court without object — Relationship between Security Council and International Court of Justice — Whether Court possessing powers of judicial review