paragraph 192 in volume 2, chapter 12, The Compulsory Jurisdiction (Optional Clause)
This phrase (de plein droit et sans convention spéciale) was examined for the first time by the present Court in the Right of Passage (Preliminary Objections) case. The Court explained that when a State deposits a declaration with the Secretary-General of the United Nations in accordance with Article 36, paragraph 4, of the Statute (see § II.198 below), that State becomes a party to the ‘system of the Optional Clause’ in relation to the other States making decla…