The 1954 International Court of Justice election took place on 7 October 1954 at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York. In the set of triennial elections, the General Assembly and the Security Council concurrently elect five judges to the Court for nine-year terms, in this case beginning on 6 February 1955. In this particular case, a sixth vacancy was to be filled due to the death of one of the judges.

Background The International Court of Justice (ICJ), based in The Hague, is one of the principal organs of the United Nations. Also known as the World Court, it adjudicates legal disputes between states, and provides advisory opinions on legal questions submitted by other UN organs or agencies.

The court consists of 15 judges, with five judges elected every three years. (In the case of death or other vacancy, a judge is elected for the remainder of the term.) Judges are required to be independent and impartial; they may not exercise any political or administrative function, and do not act as a representative of their home state.

Elections of members of the Court are governed by articles 2 through 15 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice.

The previous full election was held in 1951.

On 27 November 1953, an election was held in order to fill the occasional vacancy following the resignation of the Soviet judge Sergei Golunsky. In a nearly unanimous vote, Fyodor Kozhevnikov, also of USSR, was elected for the remainder of Golunsky's term.

On 30 November 1953, the Indian judge B.N. Rau died. The election to fill this occasional vacancy was scheduled to coincide with the regular 1954 election of five members.

The composition of the Court prior to the 1954 elections was thus as follows:

Judge Term starts / renewed Term ends Vacancy - Benegal Narsing Rau (India) 1952 1961; died 1953 Alejandro Álvarez (Chile) 1946 1955 Jules Basdevant (France) 1946 1955 Jose Gustavo Guerrero (El Salvador) 1946 1955 Arnold McNair (United Kingdom) 1946 1955 Levi Carneiro (Brazil) 1952 Elected to fill an occasional vacancy 1955 Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha (Egypt) 1946, 1949 1958 Hsu Mo (China) At the time, China was represented at the UN by the government of the Taiwan-based Republic of China. For details, see here. 1946, 1949 1958 John Read (Canada) 1946, 1949 1958 Bohdan Winiarski (Poland) 1946, 1949 1958 Milovan Zoričić (Yugoslavia) 1946, 1949 1958 Enrique Armand-Ugón (Uruguay) 1952 1961 Green Hackworth (United States) 1946, 1952 1961 Helge Klæstad (Norway) 1946, 1952 1961 Fyodor Ivanovich Kozhevnikov (USSR) 1953 1961

Accordingly, the 1954 election saw the seat of the deceased Judge Rau to be filled as an occasional vacancy for the remainder of his term, and, technically in a separate election, the seats of Judges Álvarez, Basdevant, Guerrero, McNair and Carneiro were to be contested.

Candidates

Qualifications Article 2 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice provides that judges shall be elected "from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law".

Nomination procedure All States parties to the Statute of the ICJ had the right to propose candidates. Nominations of candidates for election to the ICJ are made by a group consisting of the members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), designated by that State. For this purpose, members of the PCA act in "national groups" (i.e. all the PCA members from any individual state). (In the case of UN member states not represented in the PCA, the state in question may select up to four individuals to be its "national group" for the purpose of nominating candidates to the ICJ). Every such "national group" may nominate up to four candidates, not more than two of whom shall be of their own nationality. Before making these nominations, each "national group" is recommended to consult its highest court of justice, its legal faculties and schools of law, and its national academies and national sections of international academies devoted to the study of law.

1954 nominees

For the occasional vacancy

The following candidates were nominated for the election in order to fill the seat of the deceased Judge Rau of India:

Candidates Nominating national groups Ernst S.B. Colov (Denmark) Denmark Ramón Ernesto Cruz Uclés (Honduras) Honduras Thomas Frølund (Denmark) Denmark (Mexico) Honduras (Costa Rica) Costa Rica (Peru) Peru Ahmad Matin-Daftari (Iran) Iran Edgar Odio González (Costa Rica) Costa Rica Radhabinod Pal (India) Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Peru, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia Myint Thein (Burma) Yugoslavia; withdrew Charles de Visscher (Belgium) Egypt, France, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Yugoslavia Muhammad Zafarullah Khan (Pakistan) United States

For the five regular seats

The following candidates were nominated for the election:

Candidates Nominating national groups Hildebrando Pompeu Pinto Accioli (Brazil) Brazil Ricardo J. Alfaro (Panama) Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Panama, Peru Jules Basdevant (France) Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Egypt, Greece, Japan, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia (Lebanon) Lebanon Ramon Carmona (Venezuela) Venezuela Ernst S.B. Colov (Denmark) Denmark Roberto Córdova (Mexico) Argentina, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela, Yugoslavia Thomas Frølund (Denmark) Denmark Jose Gustavo Guerrero (El Salvador) China, Cuba, El Salvador, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States (Japan) China, Iran, Japan, United States Hersch Lauterpacht (United Kingdom) Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States (Greece) Greece Ahmad Matin-Daftari (Iran) Iran Arnold McNair (United Kingdom) France, Japan, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia; withdrew Lucio Moreno Quintana (Argentina) Argentina, Bolivia, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Yugoslavia Ricardo Paras (Philippines) Philippines Sture Petrén (Sweden) Sweden Eduardo Plaza (Venezuela) Venezuela Seni Pramoj (Thailand) Thailand Henri Rolin (Belgium) Denmark, Iran, Panama Raúl Sapena Pastor (Paraguay) Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru Georges Sauser-Hall (Switzerland) Belgium, France, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Switzerland Jean Spiropoulos (Greece) Greece Phya Ladpli Thamaprakhan (Thailand) Thailand Pedro Tuason (Philippines) Philippines Modesto Valle (Nicaragua) Nicaragua (Netherlands) Netherlands Charles de Visscher (Belgium) Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom Homero Viteri Lafronte (Ecuador) Ecuador Muhammad Zafarullah Khan (Pakistan) Canada, Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan

Election procedure

The General Assembly and the Security Council proceed, independently of one another, to elect five members of the Court (or one member, if the election is held in order to fill an occasional vacancy).

To be elected, a candidate must obtain an absolute majority of votes both in the General Assembly and in the Security Council. At the time, 32 votes constituted an absolute majority in the General Assembly and 6 votes constituted an absolute majority in the Security Council (with no distinction being made between permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council).

When five candidates have obtained the required majority in one of the organs, the president of that organ notifies the president of the other organ of the names of the five candidates. The president of the latter does not communicate such names to the members of that organ until that organ itself has given five candidates the required majority of votes.

After both the General Assembly and the Security Council have produced a list of five names that received an absolute majority of the votes, the two lists are compared. Any candidate appearing on both lists is elected. But if fewer than five candidates have been thus elected, the two organs proceed, again independently of one another, at a second meeting and, if necessary, a third meeting to elect candidates by further ballots for seats remaining vacant, the results again being compared after the required number of candidates have obtained an absolute majority in each organ.

If after the third meeting, one or more seats still remain unfilled, the General Assembly and the Security Council may form a joint conference consisting of six members, three appointed by each organ, in order to elect a candidate to fill the remaining seat(s). This option had never been used prior to the 1954 elections, and would never be used up to now.

Results

Filling the occasional vacancy

Candidates that did not receive a single vote in either the General Assembly or the Security Council are not listed.

Candidates General Assembly majority = 33 Security Council majority = 6 Radhabinod Pal (India) 32 29 5 Muhammad Zafarullah Khan (Pakistan) 30 33 6

Zafarullah Khan was thus elected to fill the seat that became vacant due to the death of B.N.Rau. This was a departure from the experience of the two previous elections held in order to fill occasional vacancies, whereby the seats were filled by judges of the same nationality as the judge who had died or resigned. On the other hand, the informal rule was confirmed to the effect that the vacant seat is to be filled by a judge at least from the same region as the one who had vacated the seat (note the large number of candidates from outside Asia who received zero votes at the election).

Filling regular seats

Candidates that did not receive a single vote in either the General Assembly or the Security Council are not listed.

Candidates General Assembly majority = 33 Security Council majority = 6 Hildebrando Pompeu Pinto Accioli (Brazil) 0 0 Ricardo J. Alfaro (Panama) 21 1 Jules Basdevant (France) 40 10 (Lebanon) 1 0 Ramon Carmona (Venezuela) 1 0 Ernst S.B. Colov (Denmark) 0 0 Roberto Córdova (Mexico) 41 8 Thomas Frølund (Denmark) 0 0 Jose Gustavo Guerrero (El Salvador) 41 7 (Japan) 16 2 Hersch Lauterpacht (United Kingdom) 39 9 (Greece) 0 0 Ahmad Matin-Daftari (Iran) 2 0 Arnold McNair (United Kingdom) 1 0 Lucio Moreno Quintana (Argentina) 36 7 Ricardo Paras (Philippines) 2 0 Sture Petrén (Sweden) 0 0 Eduardo Plaza (Venezuela) 0 0 Seni Pramoj (Thailand) 1 0 Henri Rolin (Belgium) 5 0 Raúl Sapena Pastor (Paraguay) 21 1 Georges Sauser-Hall (Switzerland) 10 1 Jean Spiropoulos (Greece) 0 0 Phya Ladpli Thamaprakhan (Thailand) 1 0 Pedro Tuason (Philippines) 1 0 Modesto Valle (Nicaragua) 0 0 (Netherlands) 0 0 Charles de Visscher (Belgium) 19 6 Homero Viteri Lafronte (Ecuador) 2 0 Muhammad Zafarullah Khan (Pakistan) - -

Despite a large number of candidates (which still was lower than at any previous election), the election was relatively uneventful: the same five candidates obtained an absolute majority of votes in the first round of voting in both the General Assembly and the Security Council. They were declared elected to the Court, without a need for further rounds of voting.

Aftermath

The composition of the Court following the election was as follows: