Is the threat or use of nuclear weapons ever permissible? This question was, at the request of the United Nations General Assembly, put before the International Court of Justice in 1996 for an advisory opinion. An evenly divided Court concluded that the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the principles and rules of humanitarian law -not an outright condemnation, but certainly strong enough to set in motion the serious initiative to outlaw nuclear weapons currently before the nations of the world.