Beyond the Silence of the International Court of Justice on Abuse of Process

Abstract. – In the context of the growing use of the exception of abuse of process in international dispute settlement systems, the ICJ’s decision on preliminary objections in the Immunities and Criminal Proceedings case definitively confirmed the theoretical applicability of the notion also to inter-state disputes, despite the lack of any reference to the concept in the ICJ’s Statute and in the Rules of procedure. However, in the same passage of the judgment, the Court limited the application of the abuse of procedure to exceptional circumstances, leaving to the interpreter the challenging task to understand which they are. The purpose of the present article is to overcome the ICJ’s silence and identify the exceptional circumstances the abuse of process could depend on. A review of the legal reasons drawn up by the Court, together with a more thorough analysis of parties’ arguments on the matter, will highlight an essential relation between the exception of abuse of process and the principle of sound administration of justice.