Rosalyn Higgins

Dame Rosalyn Higgins made history when she was elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1995. She was not only the first woman to serve as a judge on the court, but she later became its first female President in 2006.

Dame Rosalyn Higgins is British, having been born and raised in the United Kingdom. She has had a highly distinguished legal career, earning honorary degrees from numerous prestigious universities across the globe for her work in international law.

As President of the International Court of Justice from 2006 to 2009, Rosalyn Higgins presided over the bench and directed the judicial work of the United Nations' primary judicial organ. During her tenure, she oversaw several complex international disputes regarding territorial sovereignty and human rights.

One of her most highly regarded academic contributions is the book "Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use It," published in 1994. The work is famous for her argument that international law is a normative system rather than just a set of strict, static rules.