Procedural Questions Related to Preliminary Objections

Abstract

Preliminary objections may be raised in the contentious procedure of the Court by the litigant States as well as by those intervening in the case under Articles 62 and 63 of the Statute. It is not settled whether public international organizations, from which information may be requested or accepted under Article 34, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Statute, can use this way open to them for raising objections. So far, no case seems to have ever occurred, and the wording of Rule 67 of the Rules of Court does not appear to lend support to that construction of the Statute which would allow international organizations to raise preliminary objections in the contentious procedure. The situation is different in the advisory procedure in which objections may be raised by public international organizations as well as by informant States. More important is the question whether the Court itself may or should raise preliminary objections proprio motu. The jurisprudence of both the International Court of Justice and its predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice, points to the conclusion that the Court has considered itself entitled to raise objections on its own authority. The real difficulty seems to lie in ascertaining whether, strictly speaking, the Court is under an obligation to adopt such a course of action.