JUSTICE IN PROFILE
President Rosalyn Higgins
Member of the International Court of Justice since 12 July 1995, re-elected 6 February 2000, President of the Court since 6 February 2006.
Born in London on 2 June 1937. Married to the Rt.Hon. the Lord Higgins, KBE, DL.
Dame Commander of the British Empire (1995).
Fellow of the British Academy; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
B.A. (Cantab.) 1st Class (1959); LL.B (Cantab.) 1st Class (1962); J.S.D. (Yale) (1962); M.A. (Cantab.) (1962); Honorary Doctorates of the Universities of Paris XI (1980), Dundee (1992), Durham and the London School of Economics (1995), Cambridge, Kent, Essex, Sussex, Greenwich and London City University (1996), Birmingham, Leicester, Glasgow (1997), Nottingham (1999), Bath, Paris II (2001), Oxford (2002) and Reading (2003). Awarded the Yale Law School Medal of Merit (1997) and the Manley O. Hudson Medal (1998).
Minor Scholar, Girton College, Cambridge (1957); Major Scholar, Girton College, Cambridge (1958); Campbell Scholarship for Professional Studies (1957); Montefiore Award for academic and general distinction (1958); Bryce-Tebbs Scholar, Cambridge (1958); Commonwealth Fund (Harkness) Fellowship (1959-1961); Graduate Fellow, Yale Law School (1959-1961).
United Kingdom Intern, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations (1958); Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC (1960); Junior Fellow in international studies, London School of Economics (1961-1963); Staff specialist in international law, Royal Institute of International Affairs (1963-1974); Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics (1974-1978); Professor of International Law, University of Kent at Canterbury (1978-1981); Professor of International Law, University of London (1981-1995).
Queen’s Counsel (1986); Bencher of the Inner Temple (1989), practising in public international law and petroleum law. Practice in the English courts and before various international tribunals, including the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of the European Communities.
Counsel for the International Tin Council in a series of cases in the United Kingdom.
Counsel in the following cases in the International Court of Justice: Territorial Dispute (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Chad); case concerning East Timor (Portugal v. Australia); Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention arising from the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya v. United Kingdom); case concerning Gabcíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia).
President, Tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Amco v. Indonesia).
Member of the Human Rights Committee under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1984-1995); Special Rapporteur for new cases (1989-1991).
Associée of the Institut de droit international (1987), Member (1991); Chairman (since 1992) and Vice-President (since 2002), Public International Law Advisory Board, British Institute for International and Comparative Law; Honorary Vice-President of the American Society of International Law (1993).
Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (1961); British Academy Award (1977-1978); Vols. I and II of United Nations Peacekeeping received the 1971 Certificate of Merit of the American Society of International Law; Problems and Process received the 1995 Certificate of Merit of the American Society of International Law; Wolfgang Friedman Medal for services to International Law, Colombia University (1985); Harold Weil Medal, New York University (1995); Ordre des Palmes Académiques (1988); Honorary Life Membership Award, American Society of International Law (1992).
Past member of the Board of Editors of the American
Journal of International Law (1975-1985) and the
Journal of Energy and Natural
Resources Law. Member of the Board of Editors of
the British Yearbook of International
Law.
Delivered general course on international law at the Hague
Academy of International Law (1991).
Author of The Development
of International Law through the Political Organs of the
United Nations, 1963; Conflict
of Interests: International Law in a Divided World,
1965; The Administration of
the United Kingdom Foreign Policy through the United Nations,
1966; UN Peacekeeping: Documents
and Commentary, Vol. I, Middle
East, 1969, Vol. II, Asia,
1970, Vol. III, Africa,
1980, Vol. IV, Europe,
1981; Law in Movement ¾
Essays in Memory of John McMahon (joint editor with
James Fawcett), 1974; “The Taking of Property by the
State: Recent Developments in International Law”,
Recueil des cours, Hague
Academy of International Law, Vol. 176, 1982; Liberté
de Circulation des Personnes en Droit International (joint
editor with Maurice Flory), 1988; “International Law
and the Avoidance, Containment and Resolution of Disputes”
(General Course on Public International Law), Recueil
des cours, Vol. 230, 1991; Problems
and Process: International Law and How We Use It,
1994; and of various works and articles on international
legal theory, United Nations law, the use of force, State
and diplomatic immunities, human rights and international
petroleum law.