| III. | The International Court of Justice |
| 1. | FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES |
| 1.1. | General Questions |
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Arbitral Award of 31 July 1989,
Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1991, p. 53
[p. 121 D.O. Mawdsley and Ranjeva] 5. However, the International
Court of Justice, as the principal judicial organ of the international
community, has in our view a specific mission, that of securing the promotion of
international peace and security and the development of friendly relations
between States - or, in other words, the peaceful settlement, by judicial means
among others, of such disputes as arise between the States. On that score, the
Court is naturally inclined, because of the way in which judges are recruited
and the representation of the principal legal systems, to lend support to
arbitral solutions, even though it may be led to cast a critical eye upon
arbitral awards, once there has been any question about the arbitrators' respect
for procedural law, and to prove exacting with respect to the evident character
of authority of an award. This is the price of providing a sounder basis for
legal security in international relations and of consolidating the trust placed
by States, more particularly by developing States, in this mode of dispute
settlement.
