Provisional Measures and the Margin of Appreciation before the International Court of Justice

Since its determination in 2001 that provisional measures awarded under Article 41 of its Statute are binding, the International Court of Justice has steadily increased the complexity of its jurisprudence on interim relief One area in which this development has been most noticeable is that of compliance with provisional measures: both in terms of the assessment thereof and the consequences of non-compliance. Recent advances notwithstanding, the Court's approach to these questions is still developing. This article seeks to assess one possible direction that the Court may go when testing compliance with provisional measures, namely the use of the margin of appreciation. This tool is found elsewhere in international law, and gives states a measure of latitude in determining whether their obligations under international law have been the subject of compliance.