On November 6, the honorary director of XJTU Research Institute of Silk Road International Law and Comparative Law James Crawford was elected the justice of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the election held by the general meeting of the UN and Security Council at the same time, President Wang Shuguo congratulated Professor Crawford.

ICJ was founded according to the Charter of the UN in 1945 and it began to operate in 1946. Its headquarter is in Hague of Holland. It is one of the main institutions of the UN and its first judicial organ and is called "World Court". The main functions of the International Court of Justice is to give legally binding judgment to the cases submitted by each country or provide judicial opinions when requested by the general meeting of the UN and the Security Council. ICJ consists of 15 justices and they are elected by the general meeting of the UN and the Security Council. Their tenure of office is 9 years. According to the stipulations of ICJ, all the justices "have lofty characters and have the appointment qualifications of highest judicial positions or are generally accepted international jurists". The justice election generated 4 justices and their tenure of office will begin from February 6, 2015.

Professor James Crawford is the top authoritative scholar of international law in the world He was the Whewell chair Professor of International Law of Cambridge University for a long time. In 2013, Professor Crawford became the chair professor of Changjiang Scholar. In July and August of 2014, Professor Crawford delivered lectures in XJTU and he was appointed as the honorary director of the Research Institute of Silk Road International Law and Comparative Law. He also exchanged his ideas with the law experts of Shaanxi, which attracted the attention of the mainstream mass media.

The legal education of XJTU has a long-term relationship with the World Court. The famous scholars who graduated from Nanyang Public Wang Chonghui and Xu Mo acted as the first Chinese justices in Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and the International Court of the UN. They made important contribution to the legal development of China and also the world. His election is a significant mark of XJTU legal internationalization construction in a new era.