Rosalyn Higgins - Biography

Dame Rosalyn Higgins, DBE, QC (b. in London, 1937) is the former President of the International Court of Justice. Higgins was the first female judge to be appointed to the ICJ, and was elected President in 2006. Her term of office expired on 6 February 2009. She was succeeded as President by Judge Hisashi Owada, and Sir Christopher Greenwood was elected in her place as Judge in the International Court of Justice.

Life

Born to a Jewish family in 1937 as Rosalyn Cohen, she married the politician Terence Higgins in 1961 (Sir Terence from 1993, Lord Higgins since 1997).

Education and career

She was elected to the Court as of 12 July 1995, re-elected as of 6 February 2000 and ended her second term on 6 February 2009.

Higgins studied at Girton College, University of Cambridge receiving her B.A. in 1959 and LL.B in 1962. She was Harkness Fellow in 1959-61. As well as her undergraduate degrees she also qualified with a M.A. She continued her studies at Yale University earning a J.S.D. Her competence has been recognised by other academic institutions, having received over thirteen honorary doctorates, as well as the Yale Law School Medal of Merit and also the Manley O. Hudson Medal.

Following her education Higgins was a practising barrister, and became a Queen's Counsel in 1986, and is a bencher of the Inner Temple.

Her professional appointments include:

• Specialist in International Law, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1963- 1974
• Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics, 1974-1978
• Professor of International Law, University of Kent at Canterbury, 1978-1981
• Professor of International Law, University of London (London School of Economics), 1981-1995.
• Vice President, British Institute of International and Comparative Law

She is a member of the Institut de droit international and became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1995. She was appointed, in 1988, Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes académiques. In 2007 she was awarded the Balzan Prize for International Law since 1945.

Dame Rosalyn is the author of several influential works on international law, including Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use It (1994).

Despite delivering many balanced judgements in different cases, Higgin's dissenting opinion in the ICJ's advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or the Use of Nuclear Weapons has been widely criticised by the legal scholars, for it provides the sovereign states with an unjustifiable amount of latitude in resort to the use of nuclear weapons in times of armed conflict.

In October 2009 she was appointed advisor on International Law, to the British government’s inquiry into the Iraq war (Headed by Sir John Chilcot).

Personal titles

• Miss Rosalyn Cohen (1937-1961)
• Mrs Terence Higgins (1961-1986)
• Mrs Terence Higgins, QC (1986-1993)
• Lady Higgins, QC (1993-1995)
• Her Excellency Dame Rosalyn Higgins, DBE, QC (1995-1997)
• Her Excellency the Baroness Higgins, DBE, QC (1997-present)

Footnotes

External links

• ICJ Biography of H.E. President Rosalyn Higgins
• Who's Who in Public International Law 2007
• Belgium/Netherlands Iron Rhine Award and XXVII UNRIAA 35 and Award Series
• Professor Edith Brown Weiss and Charles Brower and ICJ Presidents H.E. Rosalyn Higgins and H.E. Stephen M. Schwebel at the 104th ASIL Annual Dinner of 26 March 2010 in Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C. and 104th ASIL Annual Dinner's Video in 104th ASIL Videos
• ICJ Presidents H.E. Rosalyn Higgins and H.E. Stephen M. Schwebel at The Function of International Law Conference in Cambridge on 11-12 July 2008 and 25th Lauterpacht Centre's Anniversary
• 6th IDI Commission on The Position of International Judge of the Institute of International Law and IDI Members
• Manley O. Hudson Awards and 26 January 2009
• ICJ Presidents H.E. Rosalyn Higgins and H.E. Stephen M. Schwebel at the ILSA-ASIL Gala Dinner Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Philip Jessup Moot Court Competition on 27 March 2009 and Jessup's 50th Anniversary Honorary Committee and 50th Jessup Video and 50th Jessup Programme and Prize for "Best Jessup Oralist" Launched in Honour of Former ICJ President Stephen M. Schwebel at the 103rd ASIL Annual Meeting on International Law as Law, Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C., 25-28 March 2009
• U.S. Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh's Membership, along with i.a. H.E. Former ICJ President Stephen M. Schwebel, in the U.S. National Group of the PCA which on 18 June 2010 nominated U.S. Principal Deputy Legal Adviser Joan E. Donoghue to be the second - after ICJ President Rosalyn Higgins - woman Judge in the International Court of Justice's history and U.S. Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton's Congratulations
• Visual Wikipedia of H.E. Judge Rosalyn Higgins
• Wikipedia Citations of H.E. Baroness Higgins' Views