Giurisdizione internazionale e judicial policy nella sentenza della Corte internazionale di giustizia nel caso del genocidio (Croazia c. Serbia)

The judgment of the International Court of Justice of 3 February 2015 delivered in the dispute between Croatia and Serbia calls for a careful analysis of some procedural matters which the Court was faced with, such as the interpretation of the subject-matter of a dispute and the function and limits of compromissory clauses. By giving a very wide interpretation of the term “responsibility” couched in Article IX of the Genocide Convention, the Court basically applied the Convention to ascertain whether an act of genocide occurred prior to April 27, 1992, the day of the proclamation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, even if this State did not yet exist before that date. The present article analyzes the rationale of the Court’s legal reasoning in light of the judgment of 2008 on preliminary objections and of other relevant precedents of the Court on similar disputes. It explores the underlying reasons of judicial policy which led the Court to broaden its jurisdiction to the detriment of the traditional “meticulous” construction of compromissory clauses