Page "Public international law" Paragraph 35

Often enormously complicated matters, ICJ cases ( of which there have been less than 150 since the court was created from the Permanent Court of International Justice in 1945 ) can stretch on for years and generally involve thousands of pages of pleadings, evidence, and the world's leading specialist public international lawyers.

As of June 2009, there are 15 cases pending at the ICJ.

Decisions made through other means of arbitration may be binding or non-binding depending on the nature of the arbitration agreement, whereas decisions resulting from contentious cases argued before the ICJ are always binding on the involved states.