In his as ever instant and persuasive reporting and analysis, Marko Milanovic has drawn attention to the rather unusual and, presumably for Ukraine, unexpected result in the jurisdictional phase of the Ukraine/Russian Federation genocide case. The case appears to reverse the thrust of the Preliminary Measures Order decided by the ICJ just weeks after the invasion…

Jesse Lempel raises a profound issue in his recent post concerning the South African application for provisional measures against Israel in the Gaza genocide case. He asserts that the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, cannot ‘order provisional measures that impair a state’s right to self-defence.’ The argument appears to be…

In a previous post, I introduced the recent decision of the UK Supreme Court that the Scottish parliament lacks the authority to legislate for an independence referendum. This post will focus on the part of the Court’s judgment where it appears to have denied that self-determination applies to Scotland. While it is of course true…