Compliance with Judgments of International Courts

The symposium Compliance with Judgments of International Courts was held in Leiden on 7 October 1994, on the occasion of the presentation of a Liber Amicorum to Professor Henry G. Schermers. The subject, Compliance with Judgments of International Courts, was discussed by eminent speakers of the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Communities. The topic is one of great practical importance and an almost undeveloped area of jurisprudence. While most national legal orders employ centralized mechanisms for the enforcement of judgments, such mechanisms are generally lacking at the international level. This raises particular problems which were highlighted during the symposium. The contributions of individual speakers as well as the discussions during the conference are incorporated in this book. The different contexts in which the three international courts are faced with the problem of compliance, and the different experiences of the courts in regard to compliance with their judgments, provide an opportunity to compare and to learn. Discussion on a subject of such practical importance constitutes a small but valuable contribution to the development of general international law.