Council and Court: Prospects in Lockerbie for an International Rule of Law

ANGUS M. GUNN

ABSTRACT

With the Cold War's demise, the Security Council now enjoys powers formerly checked by reciprocal vetos. The first test of this new ascendancy came via a Libyan application to the International Court of Justice in 1992. At stake was the validity of two Security Council resolutions which responded to the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. On 14 April 1992, the Court declined Libya's request for provisional relief. This article construes the Court's Order as highlighting the need for a system of judicial review within the United Nations. Such a system would likely have led the Court to a different decision in Lockerbie. The legitimate activity of all United Nations organs is limited. Constraints are informed in part by what is termed an international rule of law, which in the last resort mandates oversight of these constraints by the Court. The proposal advanced by the author would grant the Court a broad power of certiorari tempered by deferential standards of review.

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Citation: (1994) 52(1) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 206.
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