Claims — Defendants — Joint responsibility — Alleged wrongdoing by more than one State — Trusteeship Agreement conferring authority over territory upon three States — Actual administration conducted by one State — Alleged violations of Trusteeship Agreement — Whether three States incurring joint responsibility — Whether liability joint and several — Application to International Court of Justice against one of the three States — Whether application admissible in absence of the other States — Claim for compensation — Waiver — Whether claims waived by claimant State — Whether waiver must be explicit — Whether claims can be waived prior to independence — Lapse of time — When claim will be barred through lapse of time

Environment — Damage to the environment — Duty to rehabilitate lands damaged by mining — Nauru — Phosphate mining — Rehabilitation of lands worked out during period of trusteeship — Liability of former trustees — Nauru Trusteeship Agreement, 1947 — Nauru Island Agreement, 1919 — Effect of transfer of phosphate industry to Nauru on independence

International Court of Justice — Jurisdiction — Contentious cases — Article 36(2) of the Statute of the Court — Reservations to declarations under Article 36(2) — Reservation in respect of disputes in which the parties have agreed to other form of dispute settlement — Requirement of agreement between States — Admissibility — Application affecting third States — Monetary Gold rule — Allegation of breach of trusteeship by three States — Application brought against only one State — Whether determination of responsibility of that State would necessarily determine responsibility of the other two States — Article 59 of the Statute of the Court

International organizations — United Nations — Trusteeship — Nature of trusteeship — United Nations Charter, 1945, Article 76 — Termination of trusteeship — Whether former trust territory entitled to bring claim for breach of trusteeship after independence — Whether termination of trusteeship by General Assembly operates as discharge for former administering authority — Nauru — Trusteeship conferred upon three States as joint administering authority — Whether one of those States can be held responsible for alleged breach of trusteeship obligations

State responsibility — Nature of State responsibility — Whether notion of joint and several liability exists in international law — Joint authority for territory — Nauru — Joint authority of three States for Nauru — Alleged violations of international obligations — Whether all three States incurring responsibility — Whether each State responsible for full extent of damage

Territory — Trust territories — Nauru — Administration by Australia on behalf of itself, New Zealand and the United Kingdom — Phosphate mining on Nauru — Responsibility for rehabilitation of worked out lands — Whether Australia incurring responsibility — Whether all three States jointly responsible