The Pinochet Case remains a defining authority on the collision between torture, extradition, universal jurisdiction, and the immunity of former state leaders. Its importance is often misstated.

The Soering v United Kingdom case is a landmark judgment on extradition, human rights, and State responsibility in public international law. Decided by the European Court of Human Rights in 1989, it established that a State may violate the European Convention on Human Rights when it extradites a person to another country where substantial grounds show a real risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The South China Sea Arbitration is one of the most important decisions ever issued under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Its legal importance is often misunderstood. The Tribunal did not decide who owns the Spratly Islands, Scarborough Shoal, or any other disputed land feature.

On 4 May 2026, the International Court of Justice opened public hearings on the merits in Guyana v Venezuela, formally titled Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v Venezuela). The hearings, scheduled until 11 May 2026, concern the legal validity and effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award, which fixed the boundary between the former Colony of British Guiana and Venezuela.