The 1951 International Court of Justice election took place on 6 December 1951 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris. This was the third election of Judges of the Court, one the six "principal organs", and the second one to be held in order to fill five (rather than all fifteen) judges' seats. It thus continued the pattern of triennial elections whereby the General Assembly and the Security Council concurrently elect five judges to the Court for nine-year terms, in this case beginning on 6 February 1952.
Background
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), based in The Hague, is one of the principal organs of the United Nations. Also known as the World Court, it adjudicates legal disputes between states, and provides advisory opinions on legal questions submitted by other UN organs or agencies.
The court consists of 15 judges, with five judges elected every three years. (In the case of death or other vacancy, a judge is elected for the remainder of the term.) Judges are required to be independent and impartial; they may not exercise any political or administrative function, and do not act as a representative of their home state.
Elections of members of the Court are governed by articles 2 through 15 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice.
The previous election was held in 1949 and resulted in the following composition of the Court:
Thus, the 1951 election saw the seat of the deceased Judge Azevedo to be filled as an occasional vacancy for the remainder of his term, and the seats of Judges Fabela Alfaro, Hackworth, Klaestad, Krylov and de Visscher were to be contested. Technically, these would constitute two separate elections, with a separate set of candidates nominated, and the procedures regarding rounds of balloting and the number of meetings (see below) separately applied.
Election procedure
The General Assembly and the Security Council proceed, independently of one another, to elect five members of the Court (or one member, if the election is held in order to fill an occasional vacancy).
To be elected, a candidate must obtain an absolute majority of votes both in the General Assembly and in the Security Council. At the time, 32 votes constituted an absolute majority in the General Assembly and 6 votes constituted an absolute majority in the Security Council (with no distinction being made between permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council).
When five candidates have obtained the required majority in one of the organs, the president of that organ notifies the president of the other organ of the names of the five candidates. The president of the latter does not communicate such names to the members of that organ until that organ itself has given five candidates the required majority of votes.
After both the General Assembly and the Security Council have produced a list of five names that received an absolute majority of the votes, the two lists are compared. Any candidate appearing on both lists is elected. But if fewer than five candidates have been thus elected, the two organs proceed, again independently of one another, at a second meeting and, if necessary, a third meeting to elect candidates by further ballots for seats remaining vacant, the results again being compared after the required number of candidates have obtained an absolute majority in each organ.
If after the third meeting, one or more seats still remain unfilled, the General Assembly and the Security Council may form a joint conference consisting of six members, three appointed by each organ, in order to elect a candidate to fill the remaining seat(s). This option had never been used prior to the 1951 elections, and would never be used up to now.
Candidates
Qualifications
Article 2 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice provides that judges shall be elected "from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law".