INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO REQUEST FOR INTERPRETATION OF THE JUDGMENT OF 15 JUNE 1962 IN THE CASE CONCERNING THE TEMPLE OF PREAH VIHEAR (CAMBODIA V. THAILAND) (I.C.J.)

摘要

In 2013, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rendered judgment in a dispute between Cambodia and Thailand (the 2013 Judgment) over the interpretation of the ICJ's previous decision in the Case Concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (the 1962 Judgment). The parties' dispute arises from longstanding uncertainty over the location of the territorial boundary between Cambodia and Thailand in the region of the Dangrek Mountains. Neither the original judgment nor its interpretation fully resolves this uncertainty, although together they confirm Cambodia's sovereignty over the Temple of Preah Vihear and the high promontory on which it stands. Though the ICJ's judgments are not subject to appeal, the ICJ is authorized under Article 60 of its statute to "construe" a previous decision at the request of any party to the original dispute. A similar remedy is available under the rules of many other international courts and tribunals. These institutions have sometimes referred to the ICJ's decisions, as well as to one another's case law, when applying this remedy. In most of its previous cases under Article 60, however, the ICJ has found that Article 60's threshold requirements were unfulfilled and therefore declined to address the merits of the request for interpretation. In fact, the ICJ's 2013 Judgment represents only the second time in its history that the ICJ has concluded that the threshold requirements of Article 60 were satisfied and proceeded to interpret its previous decision. Accordingly, the ICJ's 2013 Judgment makes a significant contribution to the growing body of international jurisprudence regarding the remedy of "interpretation."