Evolution and Ways of Contemporary International Justice Development

The process of expansion of international courts that has been going on for more than twenty-five years so far has produced very extensive empirical evidence that not only assesses the correctness of theories and concepts that attempt to explain this phenomenon, but also draws conclusions concerning activities of international courts, determines their common characteristics and substantiates the emergence of some new trends in international justice. The author proceeds from the fact that the chaotic nature of the process of international courts appearance is a consequence of objective realities of contemporary international law caused by the absence of a single world law-maker and the existence of sovereign States with their dynamically changing priorities and interests instead of such a single law-maker. Today, proposals to form a centralized system of international courts similar to the national judicial system, or, at least, some kind of a judicial hierarchy among international courts presided over by the ICJ seem to be more than utopian. In practice, a particular international court is established only when the balance of benefits and preferences that are acquired by a founding state outweigh (as it seems to be) disadvantages and limitations that appear after the formation of the court. However, the process of establishing the courts cannot be formalized and, in each particular case, Nations operate through trial and error, using the set of measures already tested in practice to control ships. Among States, an attitude towards jurisdictional competition of international courts is changing, and it is understood that this competition should be encouraged. The competition of international courts is a part of the mechanism of checks and balances that is spontaneously developing now at the international level. In this competition, each court acts for itself, and an expected by many global community of judges has not appeared. It is conceptually and factually wrong to refer to the citation by one court of the decisions of other courts as a dialogue, because, in fact, in the absolute majority of cases, it is a unilateral citation of the decisions of well-known and authoritative courts made by regional, obscure or newly created courts, which is carried out not for the purpose of exchanging views, but primarily to enhance the legitimacy of their decisions in the eyes of their addressees.

International courts, extension (proliferation), compulsory jurisdiction, community of courts, delegation of functions, agency agreement, mutual citation, appellate instance

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