V The Decision, 12 Judges’ Separate and Dissenting Opinions

Subject(s):

Judges — Concurring, dissenting, separate, joint or individual opinions — Judgments

This chapter discusses two types of statements that judges may append to a decision under the stipulations of Article 57 of the Statute. This is not an obligation, nor is there any reward other than intellectual satisfaction. Moreover, the article in fact refers simply to ‘a separate opinion’, but the practice of the two successive Courts has been that the judge entitles their opinion a ‘separate opinion’ if they agree with the decision, or a ‘dissenting opinion’ if they do not. The non-statutory term ‘declaration’ is also used: according to the Rules of Court, this is intended for the situation where the judge ‘wishes to record his concurrence or dissent without stating his reasons’. In practice, however, it has come to be used as a sort of catch-all title for brief statements, or opinions which are not clearly either the one thing or the other.