Legal Definitions - Hague Tribunal

The Hague Tribunal is a permanent court of arbitration that was established by the Hague Peace Conference of 1899. Its purpose is to help settle international disputes through arbitration.

The court has jurisdiction over all arbitration cases, unless the parties agree to use a special tribunal. There is also an international bureau that serves as a registry for the court and issues communications about its meetings.

The Hague Tribunal is considered "permanent" because there is a permanent list of members from which arbitrators are selected for each case. However, the Second Hague Conference of 1907 made some changes to the court, including a rule that only one of the two arbitrators appointed by each party can be a national of that party.

For example, if two countries have a disagreement over a border dispute, they could bring their case to the Hague Tribunal for arbitration. The court would then select arbitrators from its list of members to hear the case and make a decision.