Fact Finding Before International Tribunals

A comprehensive study of the topical issue of fact-finding which makes realistic proposals to address the ICJ's problematic practice in this area.

This volume is the seminal work on fact-finding and international tribunals. It addresses the many questions raised in recent cases before the International Court of Justice, the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, the European Court of Justice, various international administrative tribunals, human rights courts, and commissions. Its 15 chapters, introduced by a perceptive essay by Judge Schwebel for the International Court of Justice, have been written by present or former members of such international bodies, leading lawyers who have appeared before them, and distinguished academic lawyers from the United States and abroad.

Some recent contentious issues about the use of evidence in cases before the International Court of Justice have highlighted the importance of fact-finding and the use of evidence before this Court. This major study on the issue of evidence before the International Court of Justice has examined all aspects of the Court's relationship with facts - in both contentious and advisory proceedings - from the recently refined procedure for submitting late evidence, to the hearing of live witness testimony in the Peace Palace. Considerations of flexibility and respect for the sovereignty of the State Parties before the Court have traditionally deterred the Court from constructing concrete rules on matters of evidence, but the increasing numbers of cases, in which a thorough consideration of the facts has been essential, has highlighted that some detailed procedural guidance is necessary in order to ensure a well-functioning system of adjudication. It is apparent that the Court has paid an increasing amount of attention to its evidentiary proceedings as a result, often encountering difficulties in the inherent tensions between the common and civil law traditions and thus a divergence of opinions on the Bench. This book examines the history and development of the treatment of evidence, including the early days of the Permanent Court of International Justice - the predecessor of the International Court of Justice - up to the recent Nicaragua v Honduras judgment, critically analyzing the Statute and Rules of the Court, dicta from judgments and separate and dissenting opinions, the newly developed Practice Directions, and academic writings on the subject. The book not only provides an academic discussion of the subject, but also acts as a guide to practitioners appearing before the Court.

Fact-Finding Without Facts explores international criminal fact-finding - empirically, conceptually, and normatively. After reviewing thousands of pages of transcripts from various international criminal tribunals, the author reveals that international criminal trials are beset by numerous and severe fact-finding impediments that substantially impair the tribunals' ability to determine who did what to whom. These fact-finding impediments have heretofore received virtually no publicity, let alone scholarly treatment, and they are deeply troubling not only because they raise grave concerns about the accuracy of the judgments currently being issued but because they can be expected to similarly impair the next generation of international trials that will be held at the International Criminal Court. After setting forth her empirical findings, the author considers their conceptual and normative implications. The author concludes that international criminal tribunals purport a fact-finding competence that they do not possess and, as a consequence, base their judgments on a less precise, more amorphous method of fact-finding than they publicly acknowledge.

This work offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of fact-finding, including rigorous and critical analysis of the field of practice, as well as providing a range of accounts of what actually happens. It deepens the study and practice of human rights investigations, and fosters fact-finding as a discretely studied topic, while mapping crucial transformations in the field.

This study on evidence before international tribunals, with an emphasis on the burden of proof, is one of the more important and interesting issues of evidence under both municipal and international law. The study is mainly based on documented cases and special attention is paid to the case law of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in the Hague. The study is divided into three parts. Part One presents the preliminary issues concerning the concept of the burden of proof and the burden of evidence, as well as the nature and scope of the burden of proof. Part Two discusses the main aspects of the burden of proof, identified by considering the fact that there are three main actors in each litigated case, viz. the claimant, the respondent and the judge or arbitrator. Different chapters are allocated to: the claimant's role in bearing the main task with respect to the burden of proof; general aspects of collaboration of parties in matters of evidence; and the authority and duties of international tribunals with respect to the burden of proof. Part Two ends with a chapter on the rules of the burden of proof and a discussion on whether or not there are any such rules that could be considered as principles of international law. Some related issues are discussed in Part Three. Among the items considered are presumptions and the effect that they may have on the burden of proof; practical aspects of the collaboration of parties; the issue of possible sanctions against non-production of evidence; and the question of the standard of proof to be applied in international proceedings and the discretion of international tribunals in that regard. The study ends with a concluding chapter. As noted by Professor Verhoeven in his foreword, the subtleties of evidence in international proceedings has not been systematically studied for a number of decades. The book will become a standard work of reference in the area. Audience: An invaluable tool for practitioners of international law and Government advisors as well as university professors and students of law. The long experience of the author as a judge in a civil law system, his intimate knowledge of the work of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, and currently with the United Nations (Security Council) Compensation Commission for Claims against Iraq have made him eminently well equipped to address the subject competently, both from a theoretical and practical perspective.