Page 195 - Law of Peace, Volume ,

Pam 27-161-1

Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanianentity.Thusthe Court has not evaluating the effectiveness of the court in settling a partic-
found legal ties of such a nature as might affect the application of ular type of dispute. For example, resort to the court has
General Assembly resolution 1514 0 in the decdonizstion of been more beneficialin casesdealing with titles to territory
Western Sahara and, in particular, of the principle of self-determination
through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the and with routine international matters than it has in dis-
putes growing out of the vestiges of colonialism.
Tenitorv. 168
An opinion of the International Court influences the
,9-8. Conclusion. A great many of the cases before the future behavior of states not a party to the contention. It
International Court, along with its predecessor the Perma- also establishes an interpretation of intemational law
nent Court, have concerned the interpretation of treaties. which is considered by other courts and tribunals
The International Court has resisted any interpretation whenever a similar question of law is presented for deter-
which would, in effect, redraft or improve the treaty. It mination. Therefore, all I.C.J. cases,no matter what their
has left the parties with the treaties as they wrote them.
This is evident in the Asylum case, the Rights of U.S. Nu- origin or their actual effect in settling the particular dis-
tionals in Morocco, Sovereignty over certain Frontier putes which gave rise to them, makes a valuable contribu-
Land, the U.N. admission cases, Balkan Peace Treaties, tion to a fund of law.
and the Constitution of the Maritime Safety Committee. In recent years the court has been called upon less fre-
The cases discussed in this chapter have not quently than in the fust years of its existence for advisory
emphasized the treaties involved, but have been grouped opinions. This decline, together with the fact that acces-
according to the general subject matter which gave rise to sions to the optional clause have not increased with the in-
the particular dispute. Such a classification is useful in crease in U.N.membership, could affect materially the
workload of the court. and conseuuentlv the develo~ment
168. ~d. of international law by this judicial body.