1948 International Court of Justice judges election

October 2023 The 1948 International Court of Justice election took place on 22 October 1948 in the Palais de Chaillot, Paris. This was the second ever election of judges of the court, one of the six "principal organs" of the United Nations, and the first one to be held in order to fill five (rather than all fifteen) judges' seats. It thus launched 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 1949. 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, the first of its kind, was held in 1946 and resulted in the following composition of the court: Judge Term starts / renewed Term ends Egypt 1922 Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha (Egypt) 1946 1949 China 1928 Hsu Mo (China)China At the time, China was represented at the UN by the government of the Taiwan-based Republic of China. For details, see China and the United Nations#Republic of China in the United Nations (1945–1971) 1946 1949 CAN 1921 John Read (Canada) 1946 1949 POL 1928 Bohdan Winiarski (Poland) 1946 1949 YUG Milovan Zoričić (Yugoslavia) 1946 1949 Mexico 1934 Isidro Fabela Alfaro (Mexico) 1946 1952 USA 1912 Green Hackworth (United States) 1946 1952 Norway Helge Klæstad (Norway) 1946 1952 URS 1936 Sergei Krylov (USSR) 1946 1952 BEL Charles de Visscher (Belgium) 1946 1952 Chile Alejandro Álvarez (Chile) 1946 1955 Brazil 1889 Philadelpho Azevedo (Brazil) 1946 1955 France 1848b Jules Basdevant (France) 1946 1955 El Salvador Jose Gustavo Guerrero (El Salvador) 1946 1955 UK Arnold McNair (United Kingdom) 1946 1955 The seats of Judges Badawi Pasha, Hsu, Read, Winiarski and Zoričić were thus to be contested. All of these five incumbents were candidates for re-election. 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". Nomination procedure All States parties to the Statute of the ICJ had the right to propose candidates. Nominations of candidates for election to the ICJ are made by a group consisting of the members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), designated by that State. For this purpose, members of the PCA act in "national groups" (i.e. all the PCA members from any individual state). (In the case of UN member states not represented in the PCA, the state in question may select up to four individuals to be its "national group" for the purpose of nominating candidates to the ICJ). Every such "national group" may nominate up to four candidates, not more than two of whom shall be of their own nationality. Before making these nominations, each "national group" is recommended to consult its highest court of justice, its legal faculties and schools of law, and its national academies and national sections of international academies devoted to the study of law. 1948 nominees Election procedure As the 1948 election was only the second occasion for the respective rules of procedure to be applied, some aspects of the procedure were yet to be finalized. According to the Statute, ICJ judges are elected through parallel procedures at the General Assembly and the Security Council. 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, 30 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). Results Meeting 1 Candidates that did not receive a single vote in either the General Assembly or the Security Council are not listed. Candidates General Assembly United Nations UN document A/PV.152. General Assembly. 152nd plenary meeting https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/727613 majority = 30 Security Council United Nations UN document S/PV.369. Security Council. Official records. 369th meeting https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/637481 majority = 6 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 China 1928 Hsu Mo (China)China 48 - - - 10 - - - - - Egypt 1922 Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha (Egypt) 43 - - - 9 - - - - - CAN 1921 John Erskine Read (Canada) 37 - - - 6 - - - - - POL 1928 Bohdan Winiarski (Poland) 24 27 29 33 6 - - - - - GRE old Jean Spiropoulos (Greece) 20 20 25 31 3 2 3 2 1 1 India Benegal Narsing Rau (India) 19 13 15 14 2 3 4 5 5 6 Iran 1925 Mostafa Adl (Iran) 18 10 5 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 YUG Milovan Zoričić (Yugoslavia) 17 20 22 21 5 2 1 1 2 2 TCH Antonín Hobza cs sup (Czechoslovakia) 8 8 7 7 2 3 3 3 3 2 ITA Massimo Pilotti (Italy) 7 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Union of Burma E Maung (Burma) 5 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 Thailand Wan Waithayakon (Siam) 5 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Turkey Cemil Bilsel (Turkey) 4 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Panama Ricardo J. Alfaro (Panama) 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Argentina Carlos Saavedra Lamas (Argentina) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Australia Herbert Vere Evatt (Australia) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Syria 1932 Fares al-Khoury (Syria) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Guatemala Carlos Leonidas Acevedo (Guatemala) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philippines Claro M. Recto (Philippines) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TUR Muammer Raşit Seviğ tr (Turkey) 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 COL Jesús María Yepes Q102034719 sup (Colombia) 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ITA Dionisio Anzilotti (Italy) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bolivia Tomás Manuel Elío (Bolivia) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pakistan Muhammad Zafarullah Khan (Pakistan) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Guatemala Miguel Prado Solares (Guatemala) 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philippines J. B. L. Reyes (Philippines) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Guatemala Eugenio Silva Peña (Guatemala) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Iran 1925 Ahmad Matin-Daftari (Iran) 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 The General Assembly and the Security Council, independently of each other, each held several rounds of voting until five candidates received an absolute majority of votes. After five candidates did so both in the assembly and the council, the lists were compared, and the four candidates whose names appeared on both lists, Messrs Hsu, Badawi Pasha, Read and Winiarski, were declared elected. The fifth vacancy was to be filled after further rounds of voting. Meeting 2 Candidates General Assembly United Nations UN document A/PV.153. General Assembly. 153rd plenary meeting https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/727615?ln=en 2024-01-16 2023-09-01 https://web.archive.org/web/20240116220429/https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/727615?ln=en live majority = 30 Security Council United Nations UN document S/PV.371. Security Council. Official records. 371st meeting https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/637485?ln=en 2024-01-08 2023-09-01 https://web.archive.org/web/20240108015616/https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/637485?ln=en live majority = 6 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 YUG Milovan Zoričić (Yugoslavia) 22 28 37 5 7 GRE old Jean Spiropoulos (Greece) 19 16 12 3 3 India Benegal Narsing Rau (India) 10 7 4 3 1 TCH Antonín Hobza cs sup (Czechoslovakia) 1 0 0 0 0 Mr Zoričić, having received an absolute majority of votes both in the assembly and in the council, was elected to fill the fifth vacancy. Aftermath All five incumbent judges whose terms were to expire were re-elected to the court. The composition of the court thus remained unchanged from the previous election: Judge Term starts / renewed Term ends Mexico 1934 Isidro Fabela Alfaro (Mexico) 1946 1952 USA 1912 Green Hackworth (United States) 1946 1952 Norway Helge Klæstad (Norway) 1946 1952 URS 1936 Sergei Krylov (USSR) 1946 1952 BEL Charles de Visscher (Belgium) 1946 1952 Chile Alejandro Álvarez (Chile) 1946 1955 Brazil 1889 Philadelpho Azevedo (Brazil) 1946 1955 France 1848b Jules Basdevant (France) 1946 1955 El Salvador Jose Gustavo Guerrero (El Salvador) 1946 1955 UK Arnold McNair (United Kingdom) 1946 1955 Egypt 1922 Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha (Egypt) 1946, 1949 1958 China 1928 Hsu Mo (China)China 1946, 1949 1958 CAN 1921 John Read (Canada) 1946, 1949 1958 POL 1928 Bohdan Winiarski (Poland) 1946, 1949 1958 YUG Milovan Zoričić (Yugoslavia) 1946, 1949 1958 The seats of Judges Alfaro, Hackworth, Klæstad, Krylov and de Visscher were to be contested at the 1951 election. Notes References 1948 International Court of Justice