Giorgio Gaja is an Italian

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

. A scholar in international law, he was elected in 2012 as a judge of the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

Early life and education

Giorgio Gaja was born in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1939. In 1960, he graduated from the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

with a degree in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. After completing his degree, he pursued a career in academia in cities including

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. In 1968, he was awarded the ''Libera Docenza'' in

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. He also worked as a research assistant at the

University of Camerino The University of Camerino ( it, Università degli Studi di Camerino) is a university located in Camerino, Italy. It is the best university of Italy among those with fewer than 10,000 students, according to the Guida Censis Repubblica 2011 and 201 ...

from 1964 to 1969.

Academic career

Giorgio Gaja was appointed as the Professor in International Law at the

in 1972. In 1974, he was made full professor of international law at the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

. He was appointed as Dean of the

School of Law between 1978 and 1981. He has also been visiting professor at many institutions in the United States and Europe. These include Visiting Professor at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

from 1977 - 1978,

The Hague Academy of International Law The Hague Academy of International Law (french: Académie de droit international de La Haye) is a center for high-level education in both public and private international law housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Courses are taugh ...

in 1981,

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

in 1983 and 1985,

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a Public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of C ...

in 1992, and at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in 1996.

Writer, essayist and publisher

Giorgio Gaja has published numerous essays and books on the field of international law, private international law and European Union law. Since 1989, he has been the editor in chief of the Rivista di Diritto Internazionale, one of the most prestigious periodicals on international law in Italy. He has been a member of the

Institut de droit international The Institute of International Law ( French: Institut de Droit International) is an organization devoted to the study and development of international law, whose membership comprises the world's leading public international lawyers. The organizat ...

since 1993. He is also a member of the Advisory Boards of the

Common Market Law Review The Common Market Law Review is a bi-monthly, peer-reviewed law journal covering European Union law. It is the oldest dedicated journal on EU (originally EEC) law, founded in 1963 by the Europa Institute of Leiden University in cooperation with t ...

, the Columbia Journal of European Law, and the

European Journal of International Law The ''European Journal of International Law'' is a quarterly law journal covering international law in a combination of theoretical and practical approaches. It also provides coverage of the relationship between international law and European Unio ...

. He has also been the chairman of the Italian Society of International Law.

International Court of Justice

Giorgio Gaja was appointed as counsel to the Italian Government in the ELSI case before the

. He was also an ad hoc judge in the following cases: * Legality of Use of Force (Yugoslavia v. Italy) * Territorial and Maritime Dispute between Nicaragua and Honduras in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Honduras) * Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia) * Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Georgia v. Russian Federation) * Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening). He was subsequently elected as a judge of the ICJ for a nine-year term beginning 6 February 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaja, Giorgio 1939 births Living people International Court of Justice judges University of Michigan faculty The Hague Academy of International Law people Italian judges of United Nations courts and tribunals People from Lucerne