Legal > Election of members of the Permanent Court of International Justice

II
PROCEDURE FOR THE ELECTION OF ALL THE MEMBERS 01^ THE COURT
The following paragraphs indicate the procedure for the flection of all the members
of the Court which results from the relevant articles of the Court s Statute a^teP e
established by the Assembly and Council in electing all the members of the Court in 1921 and
filling two vacancies on the Court in 1929.
I. Judges.
1. For election a candidate must obtain an absolute majority of votes, both in the
Assembly and in the Council; if more than one national of the same Member of the Le g
obtains the necessary majority, the eldest only is considered asele ( ).
By Article 9 of the Statute, the electors are required to bear in mmd that not y
should all the persons appointed as members of the Court possess the
but the whole body also should represent the mam forms of civilisation and the principal leg
systems of the world
2 The Council and Assembly are required to proceed independently of one another
(Article 8). Accordingly they meet separately and simultaneously. It is customary for the
Assembly to meet in public and the Council in private session.
3. Both in the Assembly and in the Council the voting is conducted by secret ballot
on a list of names, i.e., each delegation at the Assembly or each the numbS of
at each ballot, vote for a number of candidates equal to, but not excee^ng the
places which have to be filled. A ballot paper containing more than fof na™ t
is invalid. The required absolute majority is half the votes cast plus one, leaving out of accou
blank or invalid ballot papers.
4 The Assembly and Council, sitting separately, proceed to the number of ballots
necessarv to establish a list of the required number of candidates having obtained the prescrib
maforitiG ^If morethmi the required number of candidates obtain this majority, those haying
obtained most votes are included in the list The list estabhsh^ by t^e ounci ^s ransnn e^
under seal to the President of the Assembly and compared with the list estaolis e Dy
Assembly Candidates appearing on both lists are declared by the Pres.dent of the Assembly
t0 h^ee Result of each ballot is announced in the Assembly and Council respectively.
5. If, after the first meeting held for the purpose of the election one ^ more seats remain
to be5 filled a second and, if necessary, a third meeting is held (Article n). The number oi
candidates to be voted for at such subsequent meetings is that of the number of places remaining
to be filled. The procedure is otherwise identical with that of the first meeting.
6 At the above-mentioned electoral meetings of the Council and Assembly, only those
persons are eligible for election whose names appear upon the list of candidates nominate
by the national groups which is submitted by the Secretary-General to the Assembly and
the Council in execution of Articles 4, 5 and 7 of the Statute (^r ig e ?)_ reaffirmed
In accordance with the decision taken by the Assembly in 1921 and reamrmea
at subsequent elections, any candidate appearing on the list is eligible for election at any
ballot in^irtue of Articles 4 and 7 of the Court’s Statute and notwithstanding the provisions
of Rule 21 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly.
7 If after the third meeting, one or more seats still remain unfilled, a joint conference
consisting of six members-three appointed by the Assembly and three by the Council-
mav be formed at any time at the request of either the Assembly or the Council for the purpose
rf choosYng one nanfe for each seat still vacant to submit to the Assembly and the Conned
fOT ‘iHhe^mrfemrceis imanimously agre^l uPp" person who fulfils the required conditions,
he miy be taduded !n"ts list even though he was not included in the list of nom,nations
i-pfpr-r-pd to in Articles 4 and 5 (Article 12, paragraph 2). j . , ,1
Simultaneous separate meetings of the Assembly and Council are held to consider the names
nropo rly the oTnPt conference. The voting is by secret ballot. The result of the Councils
voteTs communicated under seal to the President of the Assembly for comparison with the
result of the Assembly's vote. The persons accepted both by the Assembly and by the Counci
will be declared by the President of the Assembly to be elected.