Part II Means of Protection, Ch.VIII Inter-American Court of Human Rights, s.1 Organization, Article 60

This chapter reviews Article 60 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR). Article 60 of the ACHR addresses the crucial issue of the Statute and the Rules of Procedure (RoPs) of the Inter-American Court. For international courts and tribunals, probably more so than for domestic organs, the Statute and RoPs are “constitutive” instruments in the first sense of the term. They set the constitutional framework to be respected by the parties and the judge. Therefore, the question of the drafters of these rules is itself fundamental. The answer to this question gives an idea of the greater or lesser degree of autonomy that the States which created the judicial body intended to provide it with.