The PCIJ was the first real permanent court of justice at the international level and operated from 1923-1946 before being replaced by the ICJ.
The International Court of Justice (or World Court) is the principle judicial organ of the United Nations,
authorized by the ICJ Statute annex to the Charter of the United Nations. For more assistance with ICJ documents, see Germain's International Court of Justice Research Guide.
All primary source material is available via the ICJ website.
From the main page, select "Cases" and then choose from:
Pending Cases | List of All Cases | Contentious Cases | Advisory Proceedings | Judgments, Advisory opinions and Orders by chronological order.
Once a case is selected, all of the documents for that case can be viewed and downloaded. Note, not all documents are translated into English by the parties.
From the main page, select "Basic Documents" and then choose from:
Charter of the UN | Statute of the Court | Rules of Court | Practice Directions | Other Texts
The establishment of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), the predecessor of the International Court of Justice, was provided for in the Covenant of the League of Nations. It held its inaugural sitting in 1922 and was dissolved in 1946. The work of the PCIJ, the first permanent international tribunal with general jurisdiction, made possible the clarification of a number of aspects of international law, and contributed to its development.
Between 1922 and 1940 the PCIJ dealt with 29 contentious cases between States, and delivered 27 advisory opinions.
The Reports of Series A, B and A/B (from 1931) contain the decisions (Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders) delivered by the Permanent Court of International Justice from 1922 to 1940.
The written pleadings, records of the public hearings and correspondence for each case are available in the Series C Reports: “Acts and Documents Relating to the Judgments and Advisory Opinions given by the Court” (until 1930) and “Pleadings, Oral Arguments, Documents” (from 1931).
Series D contains acts and documents concerning the organization of the Court, as well as the preparation of its Rules of Court and the modifications to those Rules. The Court’s Yearbooks (entitled Annual Reports) can be found in Series E. Series F contains the catalogues of the Court’s publications.
For information on other courts, tribunals, and arbitral bodies, see our guide to International Dispute Settlement.
The international tribunals listed below are under the authority of the UN. See also Columbia's International Criminal Law guide, the UN library's Courts and Tribunals guide, and the WorldLII database of decisions by international tribunals.
To locate print resources for these courts, search LawCat using the tribunal name as a keyword, an author, or a subject.
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