National Legislatures

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin L. Cope ◽  
Hooman Movassagh
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Domestic Court ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
National Legislatures

One critique of some common-law comparative legal academies is their intensively “court-centric” focus, which, some believe, “marginalize[s]” the role of the legislative branch. The same may be said of the extant comparative international law literature: most of it concerns the interpretive approaches of national courts. In fact, one of the field’s seminal pieces characterizes comparative international law as involving “comparative analyses of various domestic court decisions.” Not surprisingly, then, nearly all of this volume’s contributions deal mostly or exclusively with courts and judicial decisions. We agree that courts can play a large part in diversifying how international law works across different systems, but we contend that the foundation of the comparative international law project lies elsewhere. We argue that among the most important and underappreciated interpretative acts—and therefore, those currently most needing study—are the international law interpretations of national legislatures.

COMPARATIVE INTERNATIONAL LAW? THE ROLE OF NATIONAL COURTS IN CREATING AND ENFORCING INTERNATIONAL LAW

2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthea Roberts
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
National Court ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Domestic Court ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
National Courts ◽  
The Impact

AbstractAcademics, practitioners and international and national courts are increasingly seeking to identify and interpret international law by engaging in comparative analyses of various domestic court decisions. This emerging phenomenon, which I term ‘comparative international law’, loosely fuses international law (as a matter of substance) with comparative law (as a matter of process). However, this comparative process is seriously complicated by the ambiguous role that national court decisions play in the international law doctrine of sources, under which they provide evidence of the practice of the forum State as well as being a subsidiary means for determining international law. This article analyses these dual, and sometimes conflicting, roles of national courts and the impact of this duality on the comparative international law process.

Domestic Courts as Agents of Development of International Immunity Rules

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 559-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROSANNE VAN ALEBEEK
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Domestic Court ◽  
International Courts ◽  
International Court ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
To Come

AbstractThis paper explores the role of domestic courts in the development of international immunity rules. It assesses how domestic immunity decisions take meaning in the process of law formation and law determination, and examines whether the distinct influence of domestic-court decisions (as compared to international-court decisions) in that process results in a different role, and concomitant different rules, in the process of interpretation of rules of international law. The paper argues that while domestic courts are as a matter of international law bound by the same rules of interpretation as international courts, they are particularly well placed to address access to court concerns raised by immunity rules and may play a prominent role in the development of international law in this field in the years to come.

The Complexity of Sabbatino

1964 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 935-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Falk
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
International Law ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Domestic Court ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Partial Analysis ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions

Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino is a seminal decision, interpreting significantly the role of a domestic court in an international law case. At the same time, it avoids reaching definitive results. Very little is settled once and for all by the Supreme Court. This realization prompts caution. Sabbatino will not yield an authoritative interpretation, except, perhaps, as a consequence of subsequent Supreme Court decisions. A commentator must be content, therefore, with the less dramatic claims of provisional and partial analysis. Those that claim more are misleading us. The complexity of Sabbatino is almost certain to poison hordes of over-clarifiers who are descending upon this major judicial decision as vultures upon a freshly dead carcass.

‘International Law is Part of the Law of the Land’: True or False?

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
KENNETH KEITH
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
National Courts ◽  
National Institutions ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
National Legislatures

AbstractThis article addresses the question stated in its title by considering not only the role of national courts but also the roles of national legislatures and executives. That emphasis is called for because most of international law most of the time operates through national, rather than international, institutions and in particular through the executive and the legislature. Before I get to those national institutions, I consider two undisputed propositions of law, the varying characteristics of rules of international law and the impact of those characteristics on different national constitutional and legal systems.

Sources and the Enforcement of International Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Tzanakopoulos ◽  
Eleni Methymaki
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Domestic Court ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
The Law ◽  
Important Position ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter examines the role of domestic courts in the ideal continuum commencing from sources and ultimately ending in the enforcement of the law in a specific case. It asks whether domestic court decisions are a cause (source) or an effect (enforcement) of international law. The chapter argues that the enforcement of international law is reflexive, rather than reactive. There is thus no real continuum, with domestic courts occupying this or that position on it. Rather, domestic court decisions are both part of the cause and of the effect of international law. The enforcement of a rule of law in a specific case constitutes, in accordance with the sources doctrine, yet another brick in the wall of that same ever-changing rule. And given the increasingly important position that domestic courts are assuming in the enforcement of international law, they become ever more important agents of the development of that law.

Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
pp. 603-628
Author(s):  
Kamal Hossain ◽  
Sharif Bhuiyan
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Legal Provision ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
National Courts

This chapter focuses on international law in Bangladesh. Neither the Constitution of Bangladesh nor any statute contains any specific provision on domestic application of international law rules. However, it is well settled by various judicial decisions that in respect of domestic application of international treaties, Bangladesh is a dualist country. In order to be applied by national courts, it is necessary for the treaty to be incorporated into Bangladesh’s legal system by an act of incorporation. In respect of customary international law, there is no clear judicial decision on whether customary law automatically forms part of Bangladesh law or whether, like treaties, such law is required to be made a part of Bangladesh law by a legislative, judicial, or other measure. It is likely that Bangladesh courts will adhere to the English and common law tradition of treating customary international law as automatically forming part of Bangladesh law as long as there is no inconsistent domestic legal provision.

The WTO Appellate Body and the TRIPS Agreement

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gervais
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Trips Agreement ◽  
Domestic Court ◽  
Dispute Settlement Mechanism ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Wto Appellate Body ◽  
Settlement Mechanism

This contribution reviews the role of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body—a part of its dispute-settlement mechanism—in interpreting the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). It discusses, first, the way in which the Appellate Body functions when compared to a common law jurisdiction or a general or specialized domestic court. The contribution then turns to the three disputes concerning the TRIPS Agreement that have reached the Appellate Body since 1995, and the five cases filed against Australia challenging plain packaging measures targeting tobacco products. The primary purpose of the contribution is not to discuss those cases individually in detail but rather to offer a perspective on how the Appellate Body might play a greater role in building the interface between the rules and standards contained in the TRIPS Agreement, and those contained in international law outside the WTO.

Features of ILM for the 1960's

1969 ◽  
Vol 8 (I1) ◽  
pp. xi-xii
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Military Force ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
National Courts ◽  
The Developed Countries

The contents of ILM for the period from 1962 to 1969 reflect several significant developments: (1) the entry on the international scene of many new countries and their establishment of relations with the developed countries, particularly in the fields of commerce and trade and of investment; (2) the prevalence of armed conflict and the use of military force in the unsettled conditions resulting from the decolonization process and from continued antagonisms between the superpowers; (3) the pervasive role of international organizations, both global and regional, general and specialized; and (4) the continued predominance of national courts in the judicial consideration of questions of international law and the shift from general to specialized tribunals in the resolution of disputes by international arbitration and adjudication.

scholarly journals Reviewing the National Courts in Creating Orderly International Law and Community

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Johanis Leatemia
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
National Court ◽  
National Interest ◽  
The Other ◽  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
The One

Orderly international community and international law are determined by a national court. Essentially, the national court must be competent to maintain the balance between the national interest which based on the national sovereignty as well as the provisions of international law within the framework of peaceful coexistence. This article reviews the role of national courts in creating and developing the customary international law. As it turns out in practice, however, it has certain weaknesses, particularly in view of the accountability and legitimacy aspects of its establishment. This purpose could be achieved if national courts were able to maintain a balance between the national interest based on the sovereignty of State on the one hand and the provisions of international law on the other. The function of the national court was to maintain a balance between international law and national law.

scholarly journals Roles of the Courts in New Zealand in Giving Effect to International Human Rights - with Some History

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J Keith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Common Law ◽  
General Effect ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right ◽  
Domestic Law

The Right Honourable Sir Kenneth Keith was the fourth speaker at the NZ Institute of International Affairs Seminar. In this article he describes and reflects upon the role of courts and judges in relation to the advancement of human rights, an issue covered in K J Keith (ed) Essays on Human Rights (Sweet and Maxwell, Wellington, 1968). The article is divided into two parts. The first part discusses international lawmakers attempting to protect individual groups of people from 1648 to 1948, including religious minorities and foreign traders, slaves, aboriginal natives, victims of armed conflict, and workers. The second part discusses how from 1945 to 1948, there was a shift in international law to universal protection. The author notes that while treaties are not part of domestic law, they may have a constitutional role, be relevant in determining the common law, give content to the words of a statute, help interpret legislation which is in line with a treaty, help interpret legislation which is designed to give general effect to a treaty (but which is silent on the particular matter), and help interpret and affect the operation of legislation to which the international text has no apparent direct relation. 

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