97. The Appeals Chamber notes that Rule 111 expressly states that “[a]n Appellant’s brief shall contain all the argument and authorities.”[1] Although Rule 114 provides that “the Appeals Chamber may rule on… appeals based solely on the briefs of the parties”,[2] it also states that it can decide to hear the appeal in open court. It is intended that each party should advise the Appeals Chamber in full of all the arguments upon which they it wishes to rely in relation to each ground of appeal, through both written filings and orally.

98. However, in the case of errors of law, the arguments of the parties do not exhaust the subject. It is open to the Appeals Chamber, as the final arbiter of the law of the Tribunal, to find in favour of an Appellant on grounds other than those advanced: jura novit curia. Since the Appeals Chamber is not wholly dependent on the arguments of the parties, it must be open to the Chamber in proper cases to consider an issue raised on appeal even in the absence of substantial argument. The principle that an appealing party should advance arguments in support of his or her claim is therefore not absolute: it cannot be said that a claim automatically fails if no supporting arguments are presented.