Dictum of the day, or on the seriousness of law

The other side has sought to create a great fog. If their view is right, even at this admissibility stage of proceedings you are being asked to express views on a wide range of exotic issues - erupting volcanoes, devastating floods, eighteenth century expeditions, disappearing islands, and so on and so forth. But we are not at the movies. We are before a court of law - the world’s principal judicial organ - and it is appropriate that we return to the real legal issues.

Application for Revision of the Judgment of 11 September 1992 in the Case concerning the Land, Island and Maritime Frontier Dispute (El Salvador/Honduras: Nicaragua intervening) (El Salvador v. Honduras), Phillipe Sands, Oral Argument for Honduras, para. 3 (12.09.2003)