[Reproduced from the text provided to International Legal Materials by the International Court of Justice.

[The two questions on which the U.N. General Assembly had requested the Advisory Opinion appear at I.L.M. page 1357. With regard to the first question, the Court (1) decided by a vote of 13 to 3 to comply with the request for an advisory opinion and (2) is of the unanimous opinion that Western Sahara at the time of colonization by Spain was notaterritory belonging to no-one. With regard to the second question, the Court (1) decided by a vote of 14 to 2 to comply with the request for an advisory opinion, (2) is of the opinion, by avote of 14 to 2, that there were legalties between this territory and the Kingdom of Morocco of the kinds indicated in paragraph 162 of this Opinion, and (3) is of the opinion , by a vote of 15 to 1, that there were legalties between this territory and the Mauritanian entity of the kinds indicated in paragraph 162 of this Opinion.

[Judges Gros, Ignacio-Pinto ,and Nagendra Singh appended declarations to the Advisory Opinion; Vice-President Ammoun and Judges Forster, Petren, Dillard, de Castro, and Boni appended separate opinions, and Judge Ruda adissenting opinion. These have not been reproduced.

[Reports by the U.N. Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara appear at I.L.M. page 1503. Included in the reports are the positions of Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria , and Spain, and the Declaration of Principles on Western Sahara, signed by representatives of Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania on November 14, 1975.]