The International Court of Justice - Terms of judgeships

Judges are elected for nine years. To stagger the expiration of terms, the terms of five of the judges named in the first election (1946) expired at the end of three years, and the terms of five others at the end of six years, as determined by lot. Hence, five judges are now elected every three years. Reelection is permissible and frequently occurs. Every three years, the court elects its president and vice-president from among the judges. Unless reelected, judges chosen to fill a casual vacancy serve only for the remainder of their predecessor's term.

The composition of the court as of 6 February 2002 was as follows (terms expire on 5 February of the year given in parentheses):

Nabil Elaraby, Egypt (2006)
Carl-August Fleischhaur, Germany (2003)
Gilbert Guillaume, France (2009)
Géza Herczegh, Hungary (2003)
Rosalyn Higgins, United Kingdom (2009)
Shi Jiuyong, China (2003)
Pieter H. Kooijmans, Netherlands (2006)
Abdul G. Koroma, Sierra Leone (2003)
Shigeru Oda, Japan (2003)
Gonzalo Parru-Aranguren, Venezuela (2009)
Raymond Ranjeva, Madagascar (2009)
José Francisco Rezek, Brazil (2006)
Thomas Buergenthal, United States (2006)
Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, Jordan, (2009)
Vladlen S. Vereshchetin, Russian Federation (2006)

Normally, all judges sit to hear a case, but nine judges (not counting an ad hoc judge) constitute a quorum. The statute of the court makes provision for the formation of chambers for summary procedure, for particular categories of cases, or for an individual case. A Chamber for Environmental Matters were established by the court in July 1993. Since 1945, four cases were referred to a chamber—in 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1993. A judgment delivered by a chamber is considered as rendered by the court.