Florentino Feliciano has contributed greatly to the development of international law as scholar, practitioner, judge, and arbitrator. He has a deserved reputation for excellence, independence, and integrity. Amongst his many contributions, I feel especially privileged to have benefited from his counsel and advice as a founding member of the Steering Committee of the Project on International Courts and Tribunals. He was amongst those who actively encouraged the Project to focus on the independence of the international judiciary. This is a subject that has attracted greater attention as international courts and tribunals increase in number and in influence.

The first efforts to establish a standing international court occurred in the 1890s; they foundered for the simple reason that the states involved in the diplomatic negotiation of the Hague Peace Conference of 1899 could not agree on the method of appointing the judges, in particular how to balance the competing interests of, on the one hand, the desire of every participating state to have a judge on the court with, on the other hand, the need for a tribunal of manageable proportions (imagine a national Supreme or Constitutional Court of fifty or more judges …).

The first international court – the Central American Court of Justice – was established in 1907, between a small enough number of states to dispose of the obstacle on which the Hague discussions foundered. At this court each participating state had a judge on the bench.