International Law: Mankind's Highest Tribunal

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For a few days last week, the U.N. had some of the air of a political convention. Delegates lobbied and logrolled to gather votes as 19 candidates competed for five seats on the International Court of Justice — the World Court that meets in The Hague as mankind's highest tribunal.

Composed of 15 members from 15 different nations, the court has no troops, no policemen, no marshals to enforce its decisions. It is set up to judge disputes between nations, but it can function only if the litigants are willing to accept its jurisdiction. Under the Connally Amendment (named after Tom Connally, former U.S. Senator from Texas), the U.S. reserves the right to determine whether it will let any case involving the U.S. be taken before the World Court. Yet the court wields great moral authority.

For election to a nine-year term that carries a $25,000-a-year tax-free salary, a World Court candidate must receive an absolute majority in both the General Assembly and the Security Council, which vote separately and secretly. Last week four candidates got the required majorities right away, but it took four ballots in the Security Council and three in the General Assembly to decide the contest for the fifth seat, which finally went to Senegal's Isaac Forster, 60, former president of his nation's supreme court and the first World Court member from south-of-the-Sahara Africa. The other justices-elect:

Britain: Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice, 62, already a member of the court, having been elected in 1960 to fill out the unexpired term of a British predecessor.

France: André Gros, 55, top legal adviser to his nation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representative of France at many international conferences.

Mexico: Luis Padilla Nervo, 65, longtime diplomat and U.N. delegate, former Foreign Minister, President of the U.N. General Assembly in 1951-1952.

Pakistan: Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, 70, former supreme court justice, former Foreign Minister, a World Court justice from 1954 to 1961, President of the General Assembly during the previous session of the U.N.

The U.S. put up no candidate because the court already has a U.S. member: former Columbia Law Professor Philip C. Jessup. The other nations represented on the bench: Australia, Greece, Italy, Japan, Nationalist China, Peru, Poland, Russia, United Arab Republic.