International Criminal Court building (2016) in The Hague

International courts are formed by

treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

between nations or under the authority of an

international organization An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states a ...

such as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

and include ''ad hoc'' tribunals and permanent institutions but exclude any courts arising purely under national authority.

Definition

An international court is an

, or a body of an international organization, that hears cases in which one party may be a state or international organization (or body thereof), and which is composed of independent judges who follow predetermined rules of procedure to issue binding decisions on the basis of

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 ...

History

Early examples of international courts include the

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

tribunals established in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Several such international courts are presently located in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, most importantly 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 ...

(ICJ), and the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individua ...

(ICC). Further international courts exist elsewhere, usually with their jurisdiction restricted to a particular country, a global or regional intergovernmental or supranational organisation, or historic issue, such as the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Natio ...

that deals with the

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the L ...

in Rwanda. In addition to international tribunals created to address crimes committed during genocides and civil war, ''

ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with '' a priori''.) C ...

'' courts and tribunals combining international and domestic strategies have also been established on a situational basis. Examples of these “hybrid tribunals” are the

Special Court for Sierra Leone The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibil ...

Special Tribunal for Lebanon The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, is a tribunal of international character applying Lebanese criminal law to carry out the investigation and prosecution of those responsibl ...

, Special Panels of the Dili District Court in East Timor, and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Privileges and immunities

Judges and high-level staff of such courts may be afforded

diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

if their governing authority allows.

List of international courts

List of hybrid tribunals

Lectures

Lecture
b
Yuval Shany
( Yuval Shany) entitled ''Assessing the Effectiveness of International Courts: A Goal-based Approach'' in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

by Sir Elihu Lauterpacht entitled ''The Role of the International Judge'' in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

by Kenneth Keith entitled ''Aspects of the Judicial Process in National and International Courts and Tribunals'' in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

b
Mark Weston Janis
entitled ''Protestants, Progress and Peace: the 19th Century Movement for an International Court and Congress: Early Drafts of Today's International Court and the United Nations'' in th

References

External links

Project on International Courts and Tribunals
which maintains a second website focused on Africa a

United Nations Rule of Law: Tribunals & Other Mechanisms
on the relationship between international courts and the rule of law. {{Authority control Courts by type Supreme courts