Photo/Illutration Shigeru Oda at his home in Sendai in 2007 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Shigeru Oda, a long-serving judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) who upset the Japanese public with a dissenting opinion concerning nuclear warfare, died on Sept. 4. He was 100.

A world-renowned authority on the law of the sea, Oda laid the foundation for international law studies at Tohoku University.

Born in Sapporo, Oda began his academic career at the Tohoku University Law School as an assistant professor in 1953. He became a full professor in 1959.

Oda served as a judge on the ICJ from 1976 to 2003, the longest in the history of the world court.

A pivotal moment in his career came in July 1996, when the ICJ issued its advisory opinion titled, “Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons.”

The opinion, requested by the U.N. General Assembly, stated that the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law.

Though not definitive, the opinion was widely seen as a landmark decision pointing the international community toward nuclear abolition.

But during the tense ICJ deliberations, Oda argued to the very end that the court should not issue an opinion at all.

He maintained that the issue was not suitable for a legal resolution and criticized the U.N. request itself as being politically motivated.

His dissenting opinion drew sharp criticism from the Japanese public, with many asking, “How could a judge from the only country to suffer a nuclear attack do this?”

At the time, Oda declined to discuss the specifics of the deliberations with The Asahi Shimbun. But he offered an analogy to convey the complexity of the debate.

“In a case like a border dispute, the judges’ opinions are distributed along a straight ruler, and you can generally see where the majority will fall,” he said. “But this time, the 14 judges’ views were like points scattered inside an ellipse.”

Oda was known for his professionalism, refusal to be swayed by politics, and his deep thinking about the role and limits of international law.

These traits became the foundation of the trust he earned from the international legal community.

At Tohoku University in Sendai, where he spent most of his academic life, a memorial room honors his achievements.

On display are the judicial robes he wore at the ICJ, materials from cases he worked on, and his doctoral dissertation from his time as a student at Yale University.

According to Kentaro Nishimoto, a professor at Tohoku University, Oda was a pioneer in the law of the sea.

At a time when the field was primarily focused on rules for ship navigation, Oda was among the first to delve into the utilization of marine resources, making significant contributions to the formation of international rules.

Nishimoto said Oda was a rare figure among Japanese legal scholars who held his own on the world stage not long after Japan’s defeat in World War II.

Yoichi Higuchi, a constitutional scholar and professor emeritus at Tohoku University, was one of Oda’s students. He recalled how his young mentor at the time repeatedly encouraged him to study in Europe.

Higuchi, who delivered the eulogy at Oda’s funeral, remembered Oda fondly.

“In Japan, where jurisprudence can often be imported, he established his own original theories of international law,” Higuchi said. “He was a scholar who was also a man of action, who did his work in the field.”

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