¹ International Court of Justice, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion of 8 07 1996 Google Scholar (hereinafter referred to as “Opinion”), para. 1.

² Opinion, para. 105(2)E.

³ Statute of the International Court of Justice (hereinafter referred to as “Statute”), Article 3.

⁴ Ibid., Article 59.

⁵ M. Shahabuddeen, Precedent In The World Court, Grotius Publications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, p. 171.

⁶ Statute, Article 34.

⁷ Ibid., Article 65.

⁸ Judge Oda, the lone dissenter on the Court's finding to render the advisory opinion, offers some insightful thoughts on this and related issues.

⁹ Dissenting Opinion Schwebel, p. 8.

¹⁰ See, for example, Statute, Articles 38(1) and 55(1).

¹¹ Opinion, para. 52.

¹² Ibid., para. 64.

¹³ Ibid., para. 67 and 74.

¹⁴ Ibid., para. 71.

¹⁵ Ibid., para. 73.

¹⁶ Ibid., para. 25.

¹⁷ Ibid., para. 26.

¹⁸ Ibid., para. 33.

¹⁹ Ibid., para. 34.

²⁰ Ibid., para. 41.

²¹ Ibid., para. 105(2)C.

²² Ibid., para. 44.

²³ Ibid., para. 54.

²⁴ Ibid., para. 57.

²⁵ Peace Treaties of 10 February 1947; State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria of 15 May 1955; Antarctic Treaty of 1 December 1959; Treaty of 5 August 1963 Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water; Treaty of 27 January 1967 on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies; Treaty of Tlatelolco of 14 February 1967 for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America, and its Additional Protocols; Treaty of 1 July 1968 on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; Treaty of 11 February 1971 on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil thereof; Treaty of Rarotonga of 6 August 1985 on the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone of the South Pacific, and its Protocols; Treaty of 12 September 1990 on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany; the Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1995; the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone of 15 December 1995; and the Treaty on the Creation of the Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone in Africa of 11 April 1996. The Court also considered UN Security Council Resolutions 255 (1968) and 984 (1995) addressing security assurances given by nuclear-weapon States to the non-nuclear-weapon States.

²⁶ Opinion, para. 60.

²⁷ Ibid., para 62.

²⁸ Ibid., para. 105(2)A.

²⁹ Ibid., para. 105(2)B.

³⁰ Ibid., para. 74.

³¹ Ibid., para. 77, quoting Article 22 of the 1907 Hague Regulations relating to the laws and customs of war on land.

³² Ibid., para. 78.

³³ Ibid.

³⁴ Ibid., para. 84.

³⁵ Ibid., para. 89.

³⁶ Ibid., para. 95.

³⁷ Ibid., para. 105(2)D.

³⁸ Ibid., para. 105(2)E.

³⁹ Ibid., para. 99.

⁴⁰ Ibid., para. 105(2)F.

⁴¹ Ibid., para. 46.

⁴² Ibid., para. 67.