Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of the United Nations in the 1951 Reservations case: a look after 70 years

Abstract

In the present article the author considers main arguments and conclusions made by the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion of 1951 in the Reservations Case from historical perspective as well as general political and legal context. The analysis performed by the author reveals related advantages as well as drawbacks of the compatibility test and the system of the horizonal individual control over the reservations suggested by the Advisory Opinion. The author argues that despite of the obvious weak points of the suggested test and individual control over the reservations the Advisory Opinion of 1951 remains one of the most significant achievements of the Court radically changing the status of the reservations and paving the way to successful codification of international law.