The Historical Development of International Advocacy

Abstract

This chapter traces the historical development of international advocacy from antiquity to the closure of the Permanent Court of International Justice in 1945. In identifying a ‘diplomatic tradition’ emanating from the procedures and practices of nineteenth-century inter-State arbitration, the chapter sets the scene for explaining the culture and experiences of advocacy before the International Court of Justice and other inter-State courts in Chapter 4. It focuses upon the origins of procedural rules concerning representation and case presentation and the issues that arose in the practice of this classical period of arbitral dispute resolution that recur before its successor to the present day, including false documents and experts as counsel. It considers the status of agents as well as counsel and advocates in the Hague Peace Conferences, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Central American Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of International Justice. It sets out early efforts to professionalize the bar of the PCIJ in the 1920s and 1930s as a precursor to the debates today.