ABSTRACT
Under the new Rules of Court introduced in 1978 there has been an increasing willingness to take advantage of the provisions of Art 26(2) of the Statute and permit the operation of ad hoc chambers to dispose of particular cases. Under Art 26(3), a chamber may be established if the parties so request. When the Court sits in full there will be fifteen judges (or possibly 16 or 17 judges if ad hoc judges are appointed). Under the terms of Art 26(2), the parties may influence the number of judges appointed to the chamber. Such a process may lead to a smaller bench and speedier resolution; however, some have suggested that it can lead to the parties having undue influence on the composition of the court. In the Gulf of Maine case210 the rules provided for the parties to be consulted and for a secret ballot of the court to take place to settle composition. However, Canada and the United States indicated that unless their wishes on composition were met they would submit the case instead to arbitration. In the face of this insistence the Court elected the chamber that the parties had requested although only after protests by two judges. Although there is no minimum number specified the tendency following the Gulf of Maine case211 has been to appoint a chamber of five judges. There has been some concern that this might lead to a narrower bench of judges drawn from particular legal cultures but this fear does not appear to be substantiated by the evidence.
