039- Arbitral Award Made by the King of Spain of 23 Dec. 1906 (Honduras vs Nicaragua)
On July 1st, 1958, Honduras filed an application instituting proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Nicaragua concerning the delimitation of part of the border between the two countries. Indeed, in a convention signed on October 7th, 1894, the countries had decided to submit under certain circumstances, any point of the border that had not been determined to the Spanish Government. The King of Spain was asked to determine apart of the frontier line in October 1904 and rendered his decision in an arbitral award dated December 23, 1906.
Challenging the validity of this award, Nicaragua wished to bring the dispute before the Court. The two countries therefore decided on the procedure to be followed for this purpose. In its judgment of November 18th, 1960, the ICJ considered that Nicaragua had freely accepted the appointment of the King of Spain as mediator, that it had taken full part in the arbitral proceedings and that it had accepted the award. Accordingly, the award was binding and Nicaragua was obliged to enforce it.
This summary is provided for informational purposes only, does not involve the responsibility of Dome and should in no way be used as a substitute for a careful reading of the judgment and order of the case.
