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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--