ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the application of ‘teachings’ can affect the legitimacy of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ‘perceptions or beliefs’ about an international court or tribunal depend on who the perceiver is. Rules about recusal for judges in international and national courts focus on perceptions rather than substance. The under-representation of non-Westerners is not unique to teachings cited by the ICJ ; the same patterns show up in many different contexts in international law. A study of lawyers who appeared before the ICJ between 1999 and 2012 found that they were mostly a small group of Western men. The lack of diversity among scholars cited by the ICJ can be linked to broader debates about the ‘international’ nature of international law. International law seeks to be global, insofar as it applies to every state in the world. The ICJ is in some writers’ opinion afflicted with ‘structural bias’.
