A Renaissance Tapestry:
Toolan, David
The International Court of Justice at a Crossroads, edited by Lori F. Damrosch, Transnational Publishers, $67.50, 511 pp. In response to the decision of the World Court in late 1984 to hear...
...Is the guardianship of peace to be handed over to superstatesmen, as Europe after Napoleon was policed by Metternich and Talleyrand...
...Even the U.S...
...Eighteen papers were commissioned to address the issues...
...Is the world to be pacified by superpowers, as "Gorbymania" seems to suggest...
...Professor Edith Weiss of Georgetown Law School examines the character and competence of the judges over the years and her report should shame the Court's accusers...
...actions in support of the contras, the Reagan administration "walked out" of the Court hearing...
...on the issues raised by the World Court's ruling in the Nicaragua case...
...In response to the decision of the World Court in late 1984 to hear Nicaragua's complaint against U.S...
...The book also includes studies of the Court's past performance that, without claiming infallibility, refute the U.S...
...Although written almost entirely before the verdict (of June 26,1986) on the merits in the Nicaragua case which upheld Nicaragua's complaint, the book affords a rich mine of material for use in public and political debate (would that there had been one...
...second, on October 7, 1985, it revoked the commitment made in 1946 to accept limited compulsory jurisdiction in cases with nations likewise committed...
...Before the United States revoked its commitment, the American Society of International Law created a study panel to research and consider the implications of the impending revocation signaled by the "walkout...
...HOWARD N. MEYER...
...government's position...
...Is the rule of law to be reserved for minor matters only...
...judge on the Court did not share the U.S...
...Also demolished is the Reaganesque claim that self-defense is exempt from judicial review...
...While both sides are presented, the contentions that the Court should not have heard the Nicaragua case-because the UN Security Council had pre-empted the matter, or because the Court was incompetent to deal with disputes involving the use of force-do not stand up to the weight of scholarly judgment...
...The latter justification would set peace law back seventy-five years or more...
...It is not the Court but the United States which stands at the crossroads...
...Do we reject the role international adjudication plays in aiding peace...
...State Department's insinuations (or worse) of bias...
Vol. 115 • October 1988 • No. 17
