paragraph 256 in volume 3, chapter 16, Elements of International Procedural Law
The institution of proceedings is the termination of the diplomatic evolution of the difference in the pre-judicatory phase and the act of transition from the diplomatic to the legal sphere. It consists in the more precise reformulation of the difference as a legal dispute which the Court is being asked to settle. Modifications may follow. The object of the proceedings is to carry this process through to its log…