Advisory Jurisdiction Of The Intemational Tribunal For The Law

All countries in the world have put special attentions to oceans because they play a vital role in transportation and communication between different countries and there are significant resources in them. Although oceans are common properties for mankind, there are many legal disputes related to the issues of maritime sovereignty and resource development. To resolve these disputes, the international community always tries to establish a peaceful dispute settlement mechanism; the Charter of United Nation have provided some measures such as lawsuit, arbitration and negotiations which have resolved some issues successfully. However, due to the fact that the ocean issues are becoming diversified, the above traditional measures may become inefficient in dispute settlement. As a result, it is deserved to discuss how to provide new measures to resolve the various problems peacefully.It has been accepted by the international community that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea which is a subsidiary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea plays an important role in maintaining judicial order and protecting ocean resources. Although the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea offers the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea rights of jurisdiction, it does not explain details about the right of jurisdiction. Consequently, it caused many disputes both in theory and practice. The focus of disputes include whether the International Tribunal has the right to exert advisory jurisdiction and the scope of that advisory jurisdiction. The justices of the international court of justice discussed these problems during some international conferences and scholars from different countries had their own opinions as well. Chinese scholars have made their own contributions on this area but there is a lack of equal number and depth with international scholars. Given the current complex situations and pressure from surrounding countries, to receive a good public praise, Chinese government should make a good effect on settlement of disputes on the basis of maintaining maritime sovereignty, so it is important to understand and exert the advisory jurisdiction.There are five sections in this essay. First, it will summarize the advisory jurisdiction of the whole international juridical body; it will discuss the history of advisory jurisdiction in different juridical bodies and the purpose of establishing that right. Then, it will focus on some fundamental contents of the advisory jurisdiction; it will explain the requesters’and implementers’concrete content on how to implement the advisory jurisdiction; it will make a definition of the relevant regulations through comparing the system in international court, en bane and divisional court, and analyzing the physical truth. The rests are important sections; the third section will conclude these disputes with the author’s personal opinions; the forth section will explain the significance of applying the advisory jurisdiction; finally, it will analyze the necessity and feasibility of the advisory jurisdiction in China and how to complete it.