5 Judicial Decisions

Article 38(1)(d) — "subject to the provisions of Article 59" (the no-stare-decisis clause: ICJ decisions bind only the parties in that case). Decisions as subsidiary means: the Permanent Court and ICJ's corpus (Lotus, Chorzów, Nottebohm, Barcelona Traction, Nicaragua, Tadić (ICTY's custom findings), Arrest Warrant); arbitral awards; and the "household courts" of regional and international tribunals — persuasive by reasoning, not binding beyond the case; yet in practice ICJ lines harden into doctrine (genuine link, core-periphery of obligations — erga omnes in Barcelona Traction), and the doctrine of precedent quietly operates through stabilité jurisprudentielle. Modern accretions: WTO Appellate jurisprudence, ITLOS, investment tribunals (the fragmentation debate — units of II).