By: James G. Apple, Editor-in-Chief, International
Judicial Monitor and President, International Judicial Academy
The International Court of Justice (the World Court - ICJ)
and its predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) have
been constant reminders to citizens of many nations of the presence of international
law in the world since the creation of the latter in 1922 as a part of the machinery of
the League of Nations. The ICJ, which assumed the mantle of the judicial arm of
the United Nations in 1945 at the end of World War II, at times, especially in
its early years, had a very small docket, sometimes only two cases. In recent
years however there has been a steady supply of cases for the 15 judges of the
Court with which to wrestle. The Court currently has 14 cases on its docket.
In September, 2010, the ICJ lost one of its most intense and
consistent observers, Shabtai Rosenne, an Israeli law professor and diplomat.
Of abiding significance to both Courts and their jurisprudence is Professor
Rosenne’s monumental work in four volumes, The Law and Practice of the
International Court, first published in 1997 and updated in 2006. The Court
officially received the first edition in a ceremony held during the year of its
first publication, presided over by Court President Stephen Schwebel of the
United States and United Nations Deputy Under Secretary General for Legal
Affairs Hans Corell of Sweden. The second edition was presented to the then
President of the Court Rosalyn Higgins of the United Kingdom at the time of the
celebration of the Court’s 60th anniversary.
Shabtai Rosenne was born as Sefton Wilfred David Rowson in
London on November 24, 1917. He was educated in England and Israel, receiving
his LL.B. degree from the University of London in 1938, and then a Ph.D. degree
in naval law in 1959 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Rosenne was intimately involved in the creation of the State
of Israel. He first served in the Political Department of the Jewish Agency in
London and Jerusalem, and then as a member of the Legal