List of Judges of the International Court of Justice
The Peace Palace in The Hague, seat of the International Court of Justice
The list of judges of the International Court of Justice contains all 108 persons who were or are serving as regularly elected judges of the International Court of Justice as of June 2018, the date of the by-election of Yuji Iwasawa. It does not include judges who, in accordance with the Statutes of the Court, have been called on an ad hoc basis in individual cases at the request of a participating country.
The table is sortable within the columns, so that different representations are possible, for example an arrangement according to the beginning of the term of office or a presidency or a grouping according to the countries of origin. The names of the 15 judges currently in office are highlighted in bold type, and the end of their term of office is shown in brackets.
Selection of judges
Judges Shi Jiuyong, Aun Schaukat al-Chasauneh, Rosalyn Higgins and Raymond Ranjeva in a session marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, consists of 15 judges elected for a period of nine years. Of the judges who served after the Court’s establishment in 1946, five were elected for initial terms of three, six, and nine years, respectively, to allow for staggered by-election and re-election thereafter. The election is carried out by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council on the basis of proposals by the members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Elections are held every three years for one third of the judges, and re-election is possible for up to two further terms
Personal requirements of the candidates are the existence of the qualification for the highest judicial office in their home country or a proven competence in the field of international law. No two judges serving on the Court at the same time may be from the same country. The selection of judges is intended to provide adequate representation of the various cultural and legal communities in the world. The removal of a judge is only possible by unanimous decision of the other judges, but has never occurred in the Court’s practice to date.
Various principles of selection are not prescribed by the Statute of the Court of Justice, but are established by customary usage or tradition. For example, a judge who dies before the end of his or her term is usually succeeded by a candidate of the same nationality until the regular end of the term of the deceased incumbent. Also longstanding practice is to have a balanced representation of the different regions of the world and to take into account other geopolitical realities when appointing judges to the court. This was particularly important during the Cold War, i.e. the period between the end of the Second World War and the end of the Eastern Bloc around 1989/1990.
Of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States, France, Russia and the Soviet Union have always been represented by one judge since the establishment of the Court, as has the People’s Republic of China since 1985. This was also true of the United Kingdom from 1946 to 2018. In the November 2017 elections, British incumbent Christopher Greenwood’s bid for re-election failed, as he was supported by a majority of UN Security Council members but was defeated in the UN General Assembly by Indian candidate Dalveer Bhandari. After several unsuccessful rounds of voting, the British UN mission withdrew its candidacy in favour of Dalveer Bhandari.
List of judges
| Country of origin | Name | Tenure | President | Vice President |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 El Salvador |
José Gustavo Guerrero (1876-1958) |
1946–1958 | 1946–1949 | 1949–1955 |
 France |
Jules Basdevant (1877-1968) |
1946–1964 | 1949–1952 | 1946–1949 |
 Chile |
Alejandro Álvarez (1868-1960) |
1946–1955 | ||
 Mexico |
Isidro Fabela (1882-1964) |
1946–1952 | ||
 United States |
Green H. Hackworth (1883-1973) |
1946–1961 | 1955–1958 | |
 Poland |
Bohdan Winiarski (1884-1969) |
1946–1967 | 1961–1964 | |
 Yugoslavia |
Milovan Zoričić (1884-1971) |
1946–1958 | ||
 Belgium |
Charles De Visscher (1884-1973) |
1946–1952 | ||
 United Kingdom |
Arnold McNair (1885-1975) |
1946–1955 | 1952–1955 | |
 Norway |
Helge Klæstad (1885-1965) |
1946–1961 | 1958–1961 | |
 Egypt |
Abdul Hamid Badawi (1887-1965) |
1946–1965 | 1955–1958 | |
 Soviet Union |
Sergei Krylov (1888-1958) |
1946–1952 | ||
 Canada |
John Read (1888-1973) |
1946–1958 | ||
 Republic of China |
Hsu Mo (1893-1956) |
1946–1956 | ||
 Brazil |
Philadelpho Azevedo (1894-1951) |
1946–1951 | ||
| Brazil |
Levi Carneiro (1882-1971) |
1951–1955 | ||
 India |
Benegal Narsing Rau (1887-1953) |
1952–1953 | ||
 Uruguay |
Enrique Armand-Ugón (1893-1984) |
1952–1961 | ||
| Soviet Union |
Sergei Golunski (1895-1962) |
1952–1953 | ||
| Soviet Union |
Fyodor Koshevnikov (1903-1998) |
1953–1961 | ||
 Pakistan |
Muhammad Zafrullah Khan (1893-1985) |
1954-1961; 1964-1973 |
1970–1973 | 1958–1961 |
| United Kingdom |
Hersch Lauterpacht (1897-1960) |
1955–1960 | ||
 Argentina |
Lucio Moreno Quintana (1898-1979) |
1955–1964 | ||
| Mexico |
Roberto Córdova (1899-1967) |
1955–1964 | ||
| Republic of China |
Wellington Koo (1887-1985) |
1957–1967 | 1964–1967 | |
 Greece |
Jean Spiropoulos (1896-1972) |
1958–1967 | ||
 Australia |
Percy Spender (1897-1985) |
1958–1967 | 1964–1967 | |
 Panama |
Ricardo J. Alfaro (1882-1971) |
1959–1964 | 1961–1964 | |
| United Kingdom |
Gerald Fitzmaurice (1901-1982) |
1960–1973 | ||
| Soviet Union |
Vladimir Korezki (1890-1984) |
1961–1970 | 1967–1970 | |
 Japan |
Tanaka Kōtarō (1890-1974) |
1961–1970 | ||
 Peru |
José Luis Bustamante y Rivero (1894-1989) |
1961–1970 | 1967–1970 | |
| United States |
Philip Jessup (1897-1986) |
1961–1970 | ||
 Italy |
Gaetano Morelli (1900-1989) |
1961–1970 | ||
| Mexico |
Luis Padilla Nervo (1894-1985) |
1964–1973 | ||
 Senegal |
Isaac Forster (1903-1984) |
1964–1982 | ||
| France |
André Gros (1908-2003) |
1964–1982 | ||
 Lebanon |
Fouad Ammoun (1899-1977) |
1965–1976 | 1970–1976 | |
 Philippines |
Cesar Bengzon (1896-1992) |
1967–1976 | ||
 Sweden |
Sture Petrén (1908-1976) |
1967–1976 | ||
| Poland |
Manfred Lachs (1914-1993) |
1967–1993 | 1973–1976 | |
 Nigeria |
Charles Onyeama (1917-1999) |
1967–1976 | ||
| United States |
Hardy Cross Dillard (1902-1982) |
1970–1979 | ||
 Dahomey/ Benin |
Louis Ignacio-Pinto (1903-1984) |
1970–1979 | ||
 Spain |
Federico de Castro (1903-1983) |
1970–1979 | ||
| Soviet Union |
Platon Dmitrievich Morozov (1906-1986) |
1970–1985 | ||
| Uruguay |
Eduardo Jiménez de Aréchaga (1918-1994) |
1970–1979 | 1976–1979 | |
| United Kingdom |
Humphrey Waldock (1904-1981) |
1973–1981 | 1979–1981 | |
| India |
Nagendra Singh (1914-1988) |
1973–1988 | 1985–1988 | 1976–1979 |
| Argentina |
José María Ruda (1924-1994) |
1973–1991 | 1988–1991 | |
 Germany |
Hermann Mosler (1912-2001) |
1976–1985 | ||
| Nigeria |
Taslim Olawale Elias (1914-1991) |
1976–1991 | 1982–1985 | 1979–1982 |
 Syria |
Salah El Dine Tarazi (1917-1980) |
1976–1980 | ||
| Japan |
Shigeru Oda (* 1924) |
1976–2003 | 1991–1994 | |
| Italy |
Roberto Ago (1907-1995) |
1979–1995 | ||
| Egypt |
Abdullah Ali El-Erian (1920-1981) |
1979–1981 | ||
| Brazil |
José Sette Câmara (1920-2002) |
1979–1988 | 1982–1985 | |
| United States |
Richard R. Baxter (1921-1980) |
1979–1980 | ||
| Syria |
Abdallah Fikri El-Khani (* 1925) |
1981–1985 | ||
| United States |
Stephen M. Schwebel (* 1929) |
1981–2000 | 1997–2000 | 1994–1997 |
| United Kingdom |
Robert Yewdall Jennings (1913-2004) |
1982–1995 | 1991–1994 | |
| France |
Guy Ladreit de Lacharrière (1919-1987) |
1982–1987 | 1985–1987 | |
| Senegal |
Kéba Mbaye (1924-2007) |
1982–1991 | 1987–1991 | |
 Algeria |
Mohammed Bedjaoui (* 1929) |
1982–2001 | 1994–1997 | |
 People’s Republic of China |
Ni Zhengyu (1906-2003) |
1985–1994 | ||
| Norway |
Jens Evensen (1917-2004) |
1985–1994 | ||
 Soviet Union/ Russia |
Nikolai Tarasov (1923-1994) |
1985–1994 | ||
| France |
Gilbert Guillaume (* 1930) |
1987–2005 | 2000–2003 | |
 Guyana |
Mohamed Shahabuddeen (1931-2018) |
1988–1997 | ||
| India |
Raghunandan Swarup Pathak (1924-2007) |
1989–1991 | ||
 Venezuela |
Andrés Aguilar Mawdsley (1924-1995) |
1991–1995 | ||
 Sri Lanka |
Christopher Weeramantry (1926-2017) |
1991–2000 | 1997–2000 | |
 Madagascar |
Raymond Ranjeva (* 1942) |
1991–2009 | 2003–2006 | |
| Nigeria |
Bola Ajibola (* 1934) |
1991–1994 | ||
 Hungary |
Géza Herczegh (1928-2010) |
1993–2003 | ||
| People’s Republic of China |
Shi Jiuyong (* 1926) |
1994–2010 | 2003–2006 | 2000–2003 |
| Germany |
Carl-August Fleischhauer (1930-2005) |
1994–2003 | ||
 Sierra Leone |
Abdul Gadrie Koroma (* 1943) |
1994–2012 | ||
| Russia |
Vladlen Vereschetin (* 1932) |
1994–2006 | ||
| Italy |
Luigi Ferrari Bravo (1933-2016) |
1995–1997 | ||
| United Kingdom |
Rosalyn Higgins (* 1937) |
1995–2009 | 2006–2009 | |
| Venezuela |
Gonzalo Parra-Aranguren (1928-2016) |
1996–2009 | ||
 Netherlands |
Pieter Kooijmans (1933-2013) |
1997–2006 | ||
| Brazil |
Francisco Rezek (* 1944) |
1997–2006 | ||
 Jordan |
Aun Schaukat al-Chasauneh (* 1950) |
2000–2011 | 2006–2009 | |
| United States |
Thomas Buergenthal (* 1934) |
2000–2010 | ||
| Egypt |
Nabil Elaraby (* 1935) |
2001–2006 | ||
| Japan |
Hisashi Owada (* 1932) |
2003–2018 | 2009–2012 | |
| Germany |
Bruno Simma (* 1941) |
2003–2012 | ||
 Slovakia |
Peter Tomka (* 1956) |
2003–(2030) | 2012–2015 | 2009–2012 |
| France |
Ronny Abraham (* 1951) |
2005–(2027) | 2015–2018 | |
 New Zealand |
Kenneth Keith (* 1937) |
2006–2015 | ||
| Mexico |
Bernardo Sepúlveda Amor (* 1941) |
2006–2015 | 2012–2015 | |
 Morocco |
Mohamed Bennouna (* 1943) |
2006–(2024) | ||
| Russia |
Leonid Skotnikov (* 1951) |
2006–2015 | ||
| United Kingdom |
Christopher Greenwood (* 1955) |
2009–2018 | ||
 Somalia |
Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (* 1948) |
2009–(2027) | 2018–2021 | 2015–2018 |
| Brazil |
Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade (* 1947) |
2009–(2027) | ||
| People’s Republic of China |
Xue Hanqin (* 1955) |
2010–(2030) | 2018–(2021) | |
| United States |
Joan E. Donoghue (* 1956) |
2010–(2024) | 2021–(2024) | |
| Italy |
Giorgio Gaja (* 1939) |
2012–2021 | ||
 Uganda |
Julia Sebutinde (* 1954) |
2012–(2030) | ||
| India |
Dalveer Bhandari (* 1947) |
2012–(2027) | ||
| Australia |
James Crawford (* 1948) |
2015–(2024) | ||
| Russia |
Kirill Goraziyevich Vorgyan (* 1953) |
2015–(2024) | 2021–(2024) | |
 Jamaica |
Patrick Lipton Robinson (* 1944) |
2015–(2024) | ||
| Lebanon |
Nawaf Salam (* 1953) |
2018–(2027) | ||
| Japan |
Yuji Iwasawa (* 1954) |
2018–(2030) | ||
| Germany |
Georg Nolte (* 1959) |
2021–(2030) |
Literature
- Arthur Eyffinger, Arthur Witteveen, Mohammed Bedjaoui: La Cour internationale de Justice 1946-1996. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague and London 1999, ISBN 9-04-110468-2 (Biographies of the judges from 1946 to 1996, with pictures)
Web links
Commons: Judges of the International Court of Justice– Collection of images, videos and audio files
- International Court of Justice – Current Members List of current judges on the website of the ICJ (English)
- International Court of Justice – All Members List of all judges on the website of the ICJ (English)
- Judges (International Court of Justice The Hague)
- List (judges)