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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 March 2019
I was a silent observer in deliberations and readings at the ICJ for fifteen cases, and my opinion of those was very positive. Laborious, yes, time-consuming, yes. But in the end, it improves the outcome. What I find so striking about the ICJ in comparison to other courts and so important with its status as the principal judicial organ is that it is the judges who hold the pen. There is a drafting committee of three judges, but after that the judges have readings where they engage with the draft paragraph by paragraph for the first reading, page by page for the second reading. In most cases this process leads to a net improvement in the final result, so I can see from an efficiency point of view it may not be ideal, but for the authority and the quality of the judgment I think it is very important.