paragraph 377A in volume 3, chapter 27, The Decision
By referring to Article 59 of the Statute (see § III.385), Article 38 contains an apparent limitation on the Court’s freedom to employ judicial decisions as a subsidiary means for the determination of the rules of law. Nevertheless, earlier judicial and arbitral decisions are frequently used to identify or elucidate a rule of the law, not to make such a rule, i.e. not so much in the quality of binding precedents as having persuasive influence. T…