Non-Existence of Dispute and Preliminary Objections in International Court of Justice

In most cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the respondents in accordance with the Rules of Court, raise a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the Court, the admissibility of the application or other objections. Upholding a preliminary objection in a particular field prevents the Court from exercising its jurisdiction in that field.“Non-existence of dispute” has been one of the most important grounds for preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice from the past to the present. Accordingly, the respondent claims that, essentially, there is no dispute between parties in the case at hand. This article examines definition, importance, nature, and requirements of “dispute”. Then the basics of the existence of dispute will be discussed, such as the subject-matter of the dispute (real dispute), its relevance with parties, its determination and objectivity, concurrence and awareness requirements, prohibition of increasing and changing the dispute, threshold of existence of dispute and the burden of proof, in the light of Articles (79), (79bis) and (79ter) of the Rules of Court, its Statute and judicial procedure.