ABSTRACT
I INTRODUCTION 211
II PROCEDURE AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL COURTS AND TRIBUNALS 212
1) INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ................................................................ 212 1.1 Contentious proceedings . .. . . . . ............ .. . . . . ............ .. . . . . . ........ ......... .. . . . . . 212 1.2 Advisory proceedings ........................................................................ 217 1.3 Concludingremarks .......................................................................... 225
2) INTER~ATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE LAW OF THE SEA ......................•............... 226 2.1 General .............................................................................................. 227 2.2 Contentious proceedings .................................................................... 228 2.3 Advisory proceedings .......................................................................... 230 2.4 Concluding remarks .......................................................................... 231
3) EuROPEAN CouRT OF HuMAN RIGHTS ............................................................ 232 4) lNTER~ATIONAL CRIMINAL CouRTS AND TRIBUNALS ........................................ 242
4.1 International Criminal Court ............................................................ 242 4.2 international Criminal Tribuna/for the Former Yugoslavia (iCTY)
and internationaL CriminaL Tribunalfor Rwanda (iCTR) ................ 243 4.3 Special Court for Sierra Leone .......................................................... 253
5) WoRLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, DISPUTE SETTLEMENT BoDY .......................... 254 6) AMICI CURIAE AND ARBITRATION: NAFTA AND ICSID TRIBUNALS .................. 265
6.1 introduction ........................................................................................ 265 6.2 NAFTA ................................................................................................ 265 6.3 iCSiD ................................................................................................ 270 6.4 Concluding remarks 272
III GENERAL CONCLUSIONS .................................................................. 273
1) JURIDICAL NATURE OF THE AMICUS CURIAE BEFORE INTERNATIONAL JURISDICTIONS 273 1.1 When can an amicus curiae participate? (Criteria ratione materiae) 2 7 4 1.2 Who can be an amicus curiae? (Criteria ratione personae) ................ 275 1.3 The court or tribunal's discretion ...................................................... 276
dispute settlement ................................................................................ 282 2.3 Juria novit curia and amicus participation .......................................... 282 2.4 Does amicus participation promote the legitimacy, accountability
I INTRODUCTION
Amicus curiae translates as "friend of the court". The friend of the court is, as an ICSID tribunal recently summarized, "recognized in certain legal systems and more recently in a number of international proceedings. In such cases, a nonparty to the dispute, as 'a friend,' offers to provide the court or tribunal its special perspectives, arguments, or expertise on the dispute, usually in the form of a written amicus curiae brief or submission."1 The amicus curiae is particularly prominent in the US, but is used in other common law countries and known in some civil law jurisdictions.2 Since the 1990s the amicus curiae has become more prominent before more international courts and tribunals.
