The European Journal of International Law Vol. 27 no. 1 © The Author, 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of EJIL Ltd. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email:
[email protected] Referencing Patterns at the International Criminal Court Downloaded from Stewart Manley* http://ejil.oxfordjournals.org/ Abstract A largely neglected area of study in international law has been referencing patterns by international courts and tribunals. This article assesses referencing data collected from the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) records issued in the Uganda and Central African Republic situations. The data is generally restricted to ‘persuasive citations’ – those references that the ICC’s various chambers have used to help decide a point of law. Covering over 500 records, this study addresses, among other things, the frequency with which the ICC cites its at Orta Dogu Teknik University Library (ODTU) on May 16, 2016 own judgments, the nature of external sources cited, how referencing changes over time and how often individual judges cite their own decisions. The data may prove useful to the ICC itself, advocates who appear before it and scholars of international law. 1 Introduction The extent to which international courts and tribunals use prior judgments as a basis for decision making has been a subject of increasing scholarly interest.1 Still a relatively unexplored area of study,2 to date only qualitative research has been con- ducted.3 Qualitative research has its advantages, but it is unable to capture patterns that are only discernible by examining large quantities of citations. This article aims * Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.