Central American Court of Justice, 1908-1918
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The documents that make up the archive of the Central American Court of Justice correspond to the first permanent court of International Law in the world, as determined by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. A small region of the world, with its own conflicts, demonstrated the possibility of resolving disputes by a peaceful and consensual path through a body that had the purpose of guaranteeing the rights of States and citizens, maintaining the peace and harmony of their relations, without resorting in any case to the use of force.
Among its most important achievements is having prevented two wars by fostering closer relations between the Central American states. Also noteworthy, for the first time in the world, it recognized the right of human beings to sue the State. Individuals are granted the status of subjects of international law (previously reserved only for States). The aforementioned provision contributed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At that time, in the early 20th century, the Central American Court of Justice had no match in any other part of the world, in terms of its objectives and role, therefore, the documents produced by this regional body represent information of great value to humanity.
This fond includes documents such as lawsuit dockets, trials, accusations, resolutions, among others, covering the period between 1908 and 1918.