Sir Christopher John Greenwood (born 12 May 1955) is Master of

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and a former British judge at the

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. Prior to his election, he was professor of international law at the

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and a barrister who regularly appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice, the

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, the

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, and other tribunals.

Family and career

Greenwood is the son of Captain Murray Greenwood and Diana Greenwood. He is married with two daughters. Christopher was educated at

Wellingborough School Wellingborough School is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in the market town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. It was established in 1595 and is one of List of the oldest schools in the United Kin ...

. He then read law at

, where he was awarded a BA (Law) (First Class Hons) in 1976,

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(International Law) (First Class Hons) in 1977, and MA in 1981. As an undergraduate, he was elected

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of the

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in 1976. He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

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in 1978 and was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1999. In 2002 he was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) in the

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for services to

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the

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. In

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, he was appointed

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(GBE) for services to international justice. Greenwood is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators for the

Law of the Sea Treaty The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 169 sov ...

, the

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and the United Kingdom National Group

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered at the Peace Palace, in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides administrative support in international ...

''The Legality of Using Force Against Iraq''

Greenwood is well known for the October 2002 legal opinion tendered to the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

, entitled ''The Legality of Using Force Against Iraq''. The legal opinion, which he signed in his capacity as a law professor, has been used to justify that the

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

by Britain, the United States and allied powers was sanctioned by the

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. However, the opinion was concluded in the month before the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 and the conclusion was stated to be dependent on one of three conditions being satisfied. These conditions (he said) were (1) ''"if the UN Security Council adopts a fresh resolution authorising military action against Iraq and any conditions set out in that resolution are met"'' – this did not happen; or (2) ''"under existing Security Council resolutions on the basis that the Security Council considered that (a) Iraq is in material breach of those resolutions"'' and (b) ''"that breach constitutes a threat to international peace and security in the Gulf area. This would not require a fresh Security Council authorisation of military action"''. The question of whether these conditions were satisfied is controversial and unclear, since there was no further resolution which might have rendered the point clear. Alternatively, (3) ''"under the right of self-defence if an armed attack by Iraq against the United Kingdom or one of its allies was reasonably believed to be imminent. This would not require any action by the Security Council."'' Greenwood acted as counsel for the government of the United Kingdom in relation to a number of cases in both domestic and international courts: the Ojdanic case in the

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...

; Federal Republic of Yugoslavia v. United Kingdom in the International Court of Justice; the General Assembly request to the ICJ for an advisory opinion on the Palestinian wall (UK observations on admissibility); R (on the application of the European Roma Rights Centre and others) v. Immigration Officer at Prague Airport and others; and R (on the application of Abbasi and Mubanga) v. the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and others. Notable appearances include: * ''

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v. United Kingdom'' (Aerial Incident at

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) ICJ Reps., 1992, p. 3; ICJ Reps. 1998, p. 3 * Case concerning Legality of Use of Force (''

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

v. United Kingdom'') ICJ Reps, 1999 * ''R. v. Bow Street Magistrates, ex parte

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader of the military junta, which i ...

(No. 1)''

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1 AC 147,

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3 WLR 1456 and (No. 3) 0011 AC 147,

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2 WLR 827

1 WLR 188 (Court of Appeal) ''

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'' reported on 31 August 2007 that Greenwood had been hired by the

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for an opinion on the Canadian Afghan detainee issue, the responsibility Canada had for captives apprehended in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The legal issue is whether Canada can use the United Nations mandate to override its international treaty obligations.

Judge at the International Court of Justice

Sir Christopher Greenwood - Flickr image 4397409719

Greenwood was elected as a

judge of the International Court of Justice The first and second lists are of all the permanent judges of the International Court of Justice, the main judicial organ of the United Nations, first chronologically and then by seat. The third list is a list of judges appointed ''ad hoc'' by a p ...

in November 2008 and served from 2009 to 2018. Greenwood's direct predecessor as a judge from the United Kingdom was

Rosalyn Higgins Rosalyn Cohen Higgins, Baroness Higgins, (born 2 June 1937) is a British former president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She was the first female judge elected to the ICJ, and was elected to a three-year term as its president in ...

and, although there is no rule allocating seats, the one held by them was kept by judges from the UK since the founding of the

ICJ The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

in 1946. In November 2017, the seats of Greenwood and four other judges were up for election.

Nawaf Salam Nawaf Abdallah Salim Salam (; born 15 December 1953) is a Lebanese politician, diplomat, jurist and academic who has been serving as the 53rd prime minister of Lebanon since 8 February 2025. Salam previously sat on the International Court of Ju ...

from Lebanon surprisingly contested and won the seat kept previously by Indian judge

Dalveer Bhandari Dalveer Bhandari (born 1 October 1947) is an Indian jurist. He is currently one of the judges of the International Court of Justice. He is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and former chief justice of the Bombay High Court, he was als ...

. India in turn had Bhandari contest the seat previously held by Greenwood and after multiple rounds of voting the United Kingdom decided to withdraw Greenwood's application. This is the second time a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council has no judge on the ICJ and first time a permanent member lost the majority vote in the

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Lectures

''The Relationship between International Law and Municipal Law''
in th

* ttp://legal.un.org/avl/faculty/Greenwood.html ''The Sources of International Law''in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

in th

* ttp://legal.un.org/avl/faculty/Greenwood.html ''Immunities from Jurisdiction''in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

in th

* ttp://legal.un.org/avl/faculty/Greenwood.html ''Reflections on the Right of Self-Defence in International Law''in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

in th

* ttp://legal.un.org/avl/faculty/Greenwood.html ''International Law in the Age of Adjudication''in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

References

Notes

External links

Profile at the London School of Economics

– Evidence to the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs

– The key case reports of which he is joint editor {{DEFAULTSORT:Greenwood, Christopher People educated at Wellingborough School English barristers English King's Counsel Members of the Middle Temple Living people Academics of the London School of Economics Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George International Court of Justice judges 1955 births Presidents of the Cambridge Union British judges of United Nations courts and tribunals