Arbitral Award Made by the King of Spain on 23 December 1906 (Honduras v. Nicaragua)
OVERVIEW OF THE CASE
On 7 October 1894, Honduras and Nicaragua signed a treaty on the delimitation of the frontier between the two countries, one of the Articles of which provided that, in certain circumstances, any points of the boundary line which were left unsettled should be submitted to the decision of the Government of Spain. In October 1904, the King of Spain was asked to determine that part of the frontier line on which the Mixed Boundary Commission appointed by the two countries had been unable to reach agreement. The King gave his arbitral award on 23 December 1906. Nicaragua contested the validity of the award and, in accordance with a resolution of the Organization of American States, the two countries agreed in July 1957 on the procedure to be followed for submitting the dispute on this matter to the Court. In the Application by which the case was brought before the Court on 1 July 1958, Honduras claimed that failure by Nicaragua to give effect to the arbitral award constituted a breach of an international obligation and asked the Court to declare that Nicaragua was under an obligation to give effect to the award. After considering the evidence produced, the Court found that Nicaragua had in fact freely accepted the designation of the King of Spain as arbitrator, had fully participated in the arbitral proceedings, and had thereafter accepted the award. Consequently the Court found in its Judgment delivered on 18 November 1960 that the award was binding and that Nicaragua was under an obligation to give effect to it.
This overview is provided for information only and in no way involves the responsibility of the Court.