Abstract

Under Article 41 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the International Court of Justice is empowered to indicate interim measures of protection to preserve the rights of parties to the proceeding. This power may be exercised by the Court if it “considers that circumstances so require”. These “circumstances” have not been defined or qualified in the statute of the Court, and therefore the Hon’ble International Court of Justice, through judicial interpretation, has formulated the essential elements that constitute these circumstances. In this paper, the nature of the conditions required for the indication of interim measures of protection by the International Court of Justice has been analyzed. These principles have been evolved through the years and have attempted to strike a balance between respect for the national sovereignty of the State and the need to ensure that justice is fulfilled.

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