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World Court Digest



III. The International Court of Justice
3. THE PROCEDURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
3.11. Intervention
3.11.4. Procedural Rights of the Intervening State

¤ Land, Island and
Maritime Frontier Dispute
(El Salvador/Honduras)
Application to Intervene,
Judgment of 13 September 1990,
I.C.J. Reports 1990, p. 92

[pp. 135-136] Since this is the first case in the history of the two Courts in which a State will have been accorded permission to intervene under Article 62 of the Statute, it appears appropriate to give some indication of the extent of the procedural rights acquired by the intervening State as a result of that permission. This is particularly desirable since the intervention permitted relates only to certain issues of the many submitted to the Chamber. In the first place, as has been explained above, the intervening State does not become party to the proceedings, and does not acquire the rights, or become subject to the obligations, which attach to the status of a party, under the Statute and Rules of Court, or the general principles of procedural law. Nicaragua, as an intervener, has of course a right to be heard by the Chamber. That right is regulated by Article 85 of the Rules of Court, which provides for submission of a written statement, and participation in the hearings. Time-limits will be fixed for a written statement by Nicaragua, and observations thereon by the Parties, in accordance with Article 85, so soon after the delivery of the present Judgment as the appropriate consultations can be held.
The scope of the intervention in this particular case, in relation to the scope of the case as a whole, necessarily involves limitations of the right of the intervener to be heard. An initial limitation is that it is not for the intervener to address argument to the Chamber on the interpretation of the Special Agreement concluded between the Parties on 24 May 1986, because the Special Agreement is, for Nicaragua, res inter alios acta.