INTRODUCTION

In the context of the aims of this volume, the present chapter must be seen as an evaluation of a quite minor and relatively little-used procedural aid to the due administration of international justice. The present Court has appointed experts under article 50 of its Statute on only two occasions, early in its history, and has appointed experts pursuant to a provision in a special agreement on two other occasions. It has twice rejected a party's request that experts be appointed, and has decided proprio motu in other cases that such appointment was not necessary to assist it in determining the issues. In other cases the aspect on which an expert inquiry might have been ordered was not reached, as the Court held that it lacked jurisdiction, or that the claim was inadmissible. Whether the Court may order an expert inquiry or opinion in advisory proceedings remains an open question. To date, no such order has been made.

International arbitral tribunals have used independent experts on technical questions, in maritime boundary cases in the 1980s; and the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal has resorted to such aid on several occasions.