INTRODUCTION

The jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to entertain interventions is part of the Court's incidental jurisdiction. This form of the Court's jurisdiction is termed ‘incidental’ because ‘it is a jurisdiction which the Court may be called upon to exercise as an incident of proceedings already before it’.

The Statute of the ICJ envisions two types of intervention: discretionary intervention, which is covered by article 62 of the Statute; and intervention as of right, which is provided for by article 63 of the Statute. In the following, these two types of intervention will be discussed separately.

DISCRETIONARY INTERVENTION

The provisions of the Statute and the Rules of the Court

Discretionary intervention is covered by article 62 of the Statute of the Court, which reads as follows:

1. Should a state consider that it has an interest of a legal nature which may be affected by the decision in the case, it may submit a request to the Court to be permitted to intervene.

2. It shall be for the Court to decide upon this request.

Although under paragraph 2 of article 62 it is Tor the Court to decide upon’ a request for permission to intervene, this provision does not supply the Court with unlimited powers to accept or reject a request for permission to intervene.