ABSTRACT
The Central American Court of Justice (CACJ) (Corte de Justicia Centro Americana; Court of Cartago) cemented its origin in the Conference for Central American Peace held in Washington, from 14 November to 20 December 1907, under the auspices of the presidents of the United States of America and Mexico: Theodore Roosevelt and Porfirio Díaz. Its aim was to avert war as a method of settling existing regional conflicts.4 Influenced by the optimism that presided over the celebration of The Hague Peace Conferences, the governments of the five Central American republics signed the General Treaty of Peace and Amity (‘Washington Treaty’) at the Washington Conference.5 Art. 1 of said treaty expressed the feeling of the moment and considered as one of their first duties, in their mutual relations, the maintenance of peace, and they bind themselves to always observe the most complete harmony, and decide every difference or difficulty that may arise amongst them, of whatsoever nature it may be, by means of the CACJ, created by the Convention which they have concluded for that purpose in this date,6 i.e. the Convention for the Establishment of a CACJ (‘The Convention’),7 signed on 20 December 1907.8
The Convention defined in its preamble the pacifist mission with which it was entrusted9 in order to guarantee the state parties their rights and to maintain ‘peace and harmony inalterably in their relations, without being obliged to resort in any case to the employment of force’. In keeping with this objective, the High Contracting Parties agreed to constitute and maintain a permanent tribunal ‘to which they bind themselves to submit all controversies or questions which may arise among them, of whatsoever nature and no matter what their origin may be’ (Art. I, Convention). The official inauguration of the court took place on 25 May 1908 in its
original headquarters in the city of Cartago (Costa Rica) and was thus known as the ‘Court of Cartago’, a name it maintained despite the later transferral of its headquarters to the capital, San José (see Art. V, Convention).
