How to cite a world court case (I.C.J. / P.C.I.J.)

Bluebook (22d ed.) citation format · B21 / R21.5.1 · Foreign, international, tribal & archival

The World Court: I.C.J. and P.C.I.J. decisions, pleadings, and rules (R21.5.1). Other tribunals have their own type.

Example

Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), Judgment, 1986 I.C.J. 14, ¶ 190 (June 27).

More examples

Each of these is checked against the rules on every change to the tool.

• Reservations to Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide, Advisory Opinion, 1951 I.C.J. 15 (May 28).
• Memorial of United Kingdom, Corfu Channel (U.K. v. Alb.), 1949 I.C.J. Pleadings 19 (Sep. 30, 1947).
• Maritime Delimitation in Black Sea (Rom. v. Ukr.), Judgment, ¶ 5 (Feb. 3, 2009), http://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/132/132-20090203-JUD-01-00-BI.pdf (on file with the Harvard Law Review).

What the citation needs

Required

• Case name — The source’s name, as the rule for this type gives it.

When they apply

• Parties — The parties’ names, abbreviated per T10 and joined by a hyphen.
• Characterization of the opinion — R21.5.1: “Judgment”, “Advisory Opinion”, “Order”.
• Reporter / institution — The reporter’s abbreviation, from T1.
• Series — The series the source belongs to.
• First page — The page the source begins on. The page you are citing goes in the pincite.
• Pincite — The exact page (or section, or paragraph) your point is on — not the first page. R1.2(f): pincites are required except after “see generally”.
• Date (month and day) — The date the rule for this source calls for, with the month abbreviated per T12 (“Nov. 24, 1978”).
• Year — The year that goes in the date parenthetical at the end of the citation.
• Separate or dissenting opinion — A separate or dissenting opinion you are citing, named after the pincite: “separate opinion of Judge Oda”.
• Pleading designation — R21.5.1(f): a separately published pleading leads with its own designation — “Memorial of United Kingdom”.
• I.C.J. website URL (unpublished decisions) — The web address, where you cite the source online (R18.2).
• On file with — Where a reader can get an unpublished or hard-to-find source: what follows “on file with” — “author”, or the library or journal holding it (R17.1).

In a brief and in a law review

The Bluebook sets citations two ways: the Bluepages for court documents and legal memoranda, the Whitepages for law review footnotes. Here is the first example above as each one prints it, in its typeface.

Court documents (Bluepages)

Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), Judgment, 1986 I.C.J. 14, ¶ 190 (June 27).

Law review footnotes (Whitepages)

Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), Judgment, 1986 I.C.J. 14, ¶ 190 (June 27).

The words are the same in both; only the typeface changes.

Common mistakes

Each of these is a citation the checker refuses, with what it says is wrong and the corrected form.

Governing rules

B21 / R21.5.1

• 21 — international materials.
• 21.5 — international law cases.
• 21.5.1 — I.C.J. & P.C.I.J.
• 21.5.1(b) — parties’ names.

Build this citation with the generator, check one you have already written, or paste a whole list of footnotes to check them in order.

Related source types

Foreign, international, tribal & archival:

• Foreign case
• Other international tribunal or arbitration
• European Union document
• Other international organization document
• International yearbook or digest
• Foreign statute or constitution
• Treaty
• U.N. document
• Tribal Nation law
• Tribal order, ordinance or resolution
• Archival material