Christopher Greenwood

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This article is about the barrister (born 1955). For the cartographer (1786–1855), see
Christopher Scott Greenwood
.
Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Assumed office
October 2020
Preceded byRowan Williams
Personal details
Born (1955-05-12) 12 May 1955 (age 68)
Wellingborough, England
Alma materMagdalene College, Cambridge
OccupationJudge

Sir Christopher John Greenwood

CMG KC (born 12 May 1955) is Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge and a former British judge at the International Court of Justice.[1] Prior to his election, he was professor of international law at the London School of Economics and a barrister who regularly appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, the English courts, and other tribunals.[2]

Family and career

Greenwood is the son of Captain Murray Greenwood and Diana Greenwood. He is married with two daughters. Christopher was educated at

president of the Cambridge Union
in 1976.

He was

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to international law. He was knighted in the 2009 New Year Honours.[3] In 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for services to international justice.[4]

Greenwood is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators for the

Law of the Sea Treaty, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and the United Kingdom National Group Permanent Court of Arbitration
.

The Legality of Using Force Against Iraq

Greenwood speaking at Singapore Management University School of Law in 2018

Greenwood is well known for the October 2002 legal opinion tendered to the

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 and the conclusion was stated to be dependent on one of three conditions being satisfied. These conditions (he said) were (1) "if the UN Security Council adopts a fresh resolution authorising military action against Iraq and any conditions set out in that resolution are met" – this did not happen; or (2) "under existing Security Council resolutions on the basis that the Security Council considered that (a) Iraq is in material breach of those resolutions" and (b) "that breach constitutes a threat to international peace and security in the Gulf area. This would not require a fresh Security Council authorisation of military action".[5]

The question of whether these conditions were satisfied is controversial and unclear, since there was no further resolution which might have rendered the point clear. Alternatively, (3) "under the right of self-defence if an armed attack by Iraq against the United Kingdom or one of its allies was reasonably believed to be imminent. This would not require any action by the Security Council."[5]

Greenwood acted as counsel for the government of the United Kingdom in relation to a number of cases in both domestic and international courts: the Ojdanic case in the

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; Federal Republic of Yugoslavia v. United Kingdom in the International Court of Justice; the General Assembly request to the ICJ for an advisory opinion on the Palestinian wall (UK observations on admissibility); R (on the application of the European Roma Rights Centre and others) v. Immigration Officer at Prague Airport and others; and R (on the application of Abbasi and Mubanga) v. the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and others.[6]

Notable appearances include:

  • Libya v. United Kingdom (Aerial Incident at Lockerbie) ICJ Reps., 1992, p. 3; ICJ Reps. 1998, p. 3
  • Case concerning Legality of Use of Force (Yugoslavia v. United Kingdom) ICJ Reps, 1999
  • R. v. Bow Street Magistrates, ex parte
    Pinochet
    (No. 1)     [2000] 1 AC 147, [1998] 3 WLR 1456 and (No. 3) [2001] 1 AC 147, [1999] 2 WLR 827 [1999] 1 WLR 188 (Court of Appeal)

Canadian Department of National Defence for an opinion on the Canadian Afghan detainee issue, the responsibility Canada had for captives apprehended in Afghanistan.[7] The legal issue is whether Canada can use the United Nations mandate to override its international treaty obligations.[7]

Judge at the International Court of Justice

Greenwood was elected as a

Rosalyn Higgins and, although there is no rule allocating seats, the one held by them was kept by judges from the UK since the founding of the ICJ
in 1946.

In November 2017, the seats of Greenwood and four other judges were up for election.

UN general assembly.[11]

Lectures

References

  1. ^ a b "All Members | International Court of Justice". www.icj-cij.org. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  2. ^ "Sir Christopher Greenwood GBE CMG QC gives 2018 Tom Sargant lecture". Justice.org. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  3. ^ "No. 58929". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2008. p. 1.
  4. ^ "No. 62310". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 June 2018. p. B23.
  5. ^ a b Christopher Greenwood, CMG, QC (21 March 2005). "The legality of using force against Iraq". Select Committee on Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 1 September 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Lords Hansard. 21 March 2005. Archived from the original
    on 20 October 2006. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
  7. ^ a b Bruce Cheadle (31 August 2007). "Academic hired to argue detainees' rights case". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
  8. ^ "Five judges elected to serve on UN International Court of Justice". UN News. 6 November 2008.
  9. ^ News, Taiwan. "Taiwan News Online － Breaking News, Politics, Environment, Immigrants, Travel, and Health". Taiwan News. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ Bowcott, Owen (20 November 2017). "No British judge on world court for first time in its 71-year history". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  11. ^ Murphy, Ben. "UK is out of the International Court of Justice – and it's hard to not see Brexit at play". The Conversation. Retrieved 13 May 2018.

Notes

  1. ^ The LLB degree at Cambridge has since been renamed as the LLM to clearly reflect it being a Master's degree. By contrast, Oxford's Bachelor of Civil Law degree (BCL) retains the traditional name.

External links

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