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5 th International Conference of Chief Justices of the WorldAddress byHis Excellency Mr V.S. KokjeGovernor of Himachal Pradesh, IndiaOur Chief Guest Honorable Mr Hans Raj Bharadwaj, Union Minister for Law and Justice,Honorable Justice Mr A.K. Mathur, Judge, Supreme Court of India, Legal Luminariesfrom over 80 nations of the world led by of course Shri Justice Weeramantry, Ladies &Gentlemen and beloved students of CMS, Lucknow.It is indeed a privilege to attend an International gathering of Judicial Luminaries of theworld community and also eminent judges and legal luminaries from India. The theme isalso enchanting, Article 51(c) of the Constitution of India on which this conference isdeliberating exhorts us to endeavor for not enforcement but for fostering respect forInternational Law. A law which cannot be implemented or enforced can be respected intheories. We have to bring it in practical domain and this is the challenge before theInternational community today.His Excellency Mr V.S. Kokje, Governorof Himachal Pradesh, India addressingthe ConferenceMr Gandhi who is the spirit behind this movement has been saying that the last hope in this endeavor is from the Judiciary.What I feel is that though the Judiciary has a limited role because in all civilized societies the rule of law is the acceptedconcept and the rule of law requires even the judges to be under the law. Nobody is above the law and even the judiciaryis not above the law; and therefore, by and large, the judges have to interpret and enforce the laws made by legislatures oftheir countries. To expect them to make laws and to enforce them is a difficult proposition. But it is also true that throughoutthe world the judiciary has been molding the law in the interest of humanity. Our own courts have been very active on thisfront and they have been interpreting the law in such a manner that it sub serves the public goal.Now, therefore what can we do, the judges have a tremendous influence over the society and social thinking today. Theyhave tremendous impact on the body politic of the country and therefore whatever they say will be respectfully taken by thesociety. And in this direction therefore judges can do much. They can create a public opinion; they can create an atmospherein which International Law is respected. Now, that is the role of judges, but what Mr Gandhi has been doing is much moreimportant i.e. to make the children aware of International Law. That can be done by small castes and tribes, in small areas.Why cannot the world communities think of having such laws which can be enforced because of the sanction of the publicopinion or because of the fear of excommunication that means boycott, economic sanctions or any other sanctions? I leaveit to the luminaries assembled here to deliberate on these things and I congratulate the City Montessori School, Lucknowfor having arranged this great conference, its 5th year. I have been hearing about it but I didn’t have any occasion to attendit earlier. This time Mr Gandhi persuaded me to come here and I am glad that it is a good experience. I congratulatestudents of CMS who had put up such a good entertainment show yesterday. This shows that even the small children if theyare properly inspired can do wonders.The world is going up in flames - shower it with your mercy and save it,and deliver it, by whatever method it takes. The true guru has shown theway to peace, contemplating the true word of the shabad. Nanak knowsno other than the Lord, the forgiving Lord.—Guru Granth Sahib, pg no. 858--12--
5th International Conference of Chief Justices of the WorldKeynote Address byHonorable Mr Justice C.G. WeeramantaryFormer-Vice President, International Court of Justice, The HagueIt is a tremendous pleasure for me to be able to address you on the subject of InternationalLaw and the way in which we can make the International Law obeyed by all countries ofthe world, rich or poor, great or small, it does not matter. One law must apply to all nationsthroughout the world. Now, it is interesting that, first of all meeting in this historic city ofLucknow it is useful to recall the ancient Indian tradition on International Law. The Vedaswere very clear that the ultimate sovereign of the world will not be a ‘Chakravarty’ or a‘Universal Manav’, not Alexander or Ceaser or Napoleon, the ultimate sovereign of theworld will be ‘Law’ and in praise they use the beautiful expression which I often repeat inthe lectures I give across the world. The Kingless authority of the law, that is, it is not ahuman being that is the ultimate sovereign of the world it is the ‘Law’, the law will besovereign, the law will be respected, the law will be obeyed and what more beautifulHon’ble Dr Justice C G Weeramantary,Former Vice President, InternationalCourt of Justice, the Hague, addressingthe Conferencedescription of International Law than that. So, that is the idea which the ancient Hindu scriptures has set before the worldand they were probably the first in the world to record that in that beautiful form that the ultimate sovereign of the world towhom all obedience needs to be paid is the ‘Law’. Now, that law of course extends from the highest moral principles whichhumanity is heir to, from all the traditions of the world because all the principal religions teach ‘Peace’ as a central themeand speaking again about the Hindu Law, they have references made by the Minister of Justice as well as by Mr Gandhi toIndian history and Indian scripture.There was a case that came before the International Court of Justice on a reference by General Assembly to give the worldan opinion on the legality of the nuclear weapons. In that case all the Judges condemned the nuclear weapons but there wasa slight disagreement between the majority and the minority. I was in the minority in relation to whether nuclear weaponscould be used in an extreme circumstance of self defense. I said and I wrote this judgment to this effect ‘Nuclear weaponsare illegal in any circumstances whatsoever because you cannot use the weapons of such lethal destructive power’. Therewas a dispute between the parties and I reinforce my conclusion by scriptures from across the world and one of the writingsI refer to was the ‘Ramayan’ because in the Ramayan in the conflict between Rama and Ravana that was refered to by MrGandhi, in that conflict Rama was advised at a certain stage that a hyper destructive weapon was available but could not beused, he was told that he should not use this, so great was respect of International Law, ‘You should not use this withoutfirst consulting the sages of the law’, so the sages of the laws were consulted and they said ‘You shall not use this weapon’,‘Why? Because it goes beyond the purposes of the war, the purpose of war may be to subjugate your enemy but thereafteryou live in peace with him, not destroy him, ravage country side and cause untold damage for generations’. So Rama didnot use the weapon although it was available; and I cited that as an example from ancient Indian tradition of the unavailabilityof the hyper destructive weapons.There you find the way in which the International Law can fertilize itself from the thinking of all the great traditions of theworld. Now that is Hinduism; whereas Buddhism has its tremendous tradition of peace, compassion for all beings and totalabolition of violence as a method for the settlement of disputes. When I was in the International Court, I thought it might begood to remind the judges as well as the general public of this ancient Indian tradition and I initiated the idea of having abeautiful bronze sculpture made of Lord Buddha settling a dispute between the two warring tribes and their chieftains breaktheir swords at his feet and that sculpture now hangs outside the chambers of the judges at the International Court of Justicein Netherlands. So, that again is a Buddhist tradition and of course Emperor Ashoka was wonderful embodiment of thatand as you know that it is very well said among all the supreme highness and majesties and serene highness of the world,the name of Ashoka shines like a shining star. Ashoka embraced Buddhism and all its tradition of non-violence, so war isanathema to Buddhism and that is what we got to ingrain in International Law. Then, as far as Islam is concerned, very oftenit is forgotten that the first major treaty’s writers in the International Law were the Islamic jurists. The west thinks ofGrocious the 17th century Dutch jurist, as being the initiator of Modern International Law, but 800 years before Grociousthere were these elaborate texts written by Islamic jurists containing all the basic principles of Modern International Law,the sanctity of treaties,how do you treat prisoners, how you treat diplomats, how do you even handle the correspondence--13--
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Some arrangements directed to impro
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Hon’ble Mr Justice Arsene K Capo-
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