Aerial Incident of 27 July 1955 (Israel v. Bulgaria)
OVERVIEW OF THE CASE
This case arose out of the destruction by Bulgarian anti-aircraft defence forces of an aircraft belonging to an Israeli airline. Israel instituted proceedings before the Court by means of an Application in October 1957. Bulgaria having challenged the Court’s jurisdiction to deal with the claim, Israel contended that, since Bulgaria had in 1921 accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of International Justice for an unlimited period, that acceptance became applicable, when Bulgaria was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice by virtue of Article 36, paragraph 5, of the present Court’s Statute, which provides that declarations made under the Statute of the PCIJ and which are still in force shall be deemed, as between the parties to the present Court’s Statute, to be acceptances applicable to the International Court of Justice for the period which they still have to run and in accordance with their terms. In its Judgment on the preliminary objections, delivered on 26 May 1959, the Court found that it was without jurisdiction on the ground that Article 36, paragraph 5, was intended to preserve only declarations in force as between States signatories of the United Nations Charter, and not subsequently to revive undertakings which had lapsed on the dissolution of the PCIJ.
This overview is provided for information only and in no way involves the responsibility of the Court.