ILASS Speakers Series - Judicial Emotion at the International Court of Justice

We are pleased to announce the International Law and Social Science Speakers Series 2025-2026, co-sponsored by the International Law and Social Science Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and the Social Sciences and International Law Interest Group of the European Society of International Law (ESIL).

This chapter names and examines the presence and evolution of “judicial emotion” at the International Court of Justice. Building upon insights from neuroscience and related fields that influence understandings of international judicial thought, as developed in Human Choice in International Law (CUP, 2021), this chapter takes up the evaluation of judicial emotion in ICJ jurisprudence. The chapter begins by documenting the presence of judicial emotion at the ICJ since its inception, noting the Court’s handling of particularly challenging matters of human affairs over its history, such as apartheid, nuclear weapons, genocide, and climate change. The chapter then considers recent cases before the ICJ that have resulted in jurisprudence invoking judicial emotion before considering the following key challenges that follow. Has there been a trend toward more judicial emotion in ICJ judgements and/or in the separate opinions of individual judges? What is the role of judicial emotion in compliance with and enforcement of ICJ decisions? Does the presence of judicial emotion impact the legitimacy of the ICJ? How should the field of international law account for judicial emotion at the ICJ? The chapter concludes by considering these questions as well as broader implications for scholarly and public discourse about the role of emotion in the project of international law.

Speaker: Anna Spain Bradley, UCLA School of Law

Discussant: Anne Saab, Geneva Graduate Institute

Moderator: Anne van Aaken, University of Hamburg