The Republic of Cameroon claimed that the United Kingdom had violated the Trusteeship Agreement for the Territory of the Cameroons under British administration (divided into the Northern and the Southern Cameroons) by creating such conditions that the Trusteeship had led to the attachment of the Northern Cameroons to Nigeria instead of to the Republic of Cameroon, the territory of which had previously been administered by France and to which the Southern Cameroons had been attached. The United Kingdom raised preliminary objections to the Court’s jurisdiction.

The Court found that to adjudicate on the merits would be devoid of purpose since, as the Republic of Cameroon had recognized, its judgment thereon could not affect the decision of the General Assembly providing for the attachment of the Northern Cameroons to Nigeria in accordance with the results of a plebiscite supervised by the United Nations. Accordingly, by a Judgment of 2 December 1963, the Court found that it could not adjudicate upon the merits of the claim.