Introduction

Sometimes Tribunals rule in favor of Claimants on the merits and award no damages. After a contentious process that may have lasted years and cost millions, Claimant gets the consolation that the actions of a sovereign were judged to be in violation of international law but receives no monetary compensation.

This raises the question whether damage is an essential element of the breach of an international obligation, which is to say, "whether it is possible to conceive, even hypothetically, of a breach (of international obligations) ... which occasions no damage".