paragraph 17 in volume 1, chapter 2, The Establishment and Constitution of the Court
It is rare in discussions on the interpretation of the Statute and Rules to encounter arguments based upon State practice. It was, therefore, an innovation when, in the Nottebohm (Preliminary Objection) case, the Court included in its judgment an important passage in which it implied that the fact that States had acted in a certain way, in analogous circumstances before the Permanent Court did not absolve it from the duty of examining w…