Domestic courts, transnational law, and international order

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 184-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filiz Kahraman ◽  
Nikhil Kalyanpur ◽  
Abraham L. Newman
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Order ◽  
International Diffusion ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
Transnational Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
The Relationship

This article revisits the relationship between law and international order. Building on legal research concerned with transnational law, we argue that domestic courts are endogenous sites of international political change. National courts are constitutive of international order by generating new rules, adjudicating transnational disputes, and bounding state sovereignty. We illustrate the ways in which national courts create new political opportunities by updating three core international relations theory debates. Recognizing the role of domestic courts as global adjudicators enhances our understanding of regime complexity and international forum shopping. By re-interpreting aspects of conventional international law, and engaging in cross-border dialogue, domestic courts challenge our understanding of international diffusion and judicialization. By redefining the boundaries of state authority and sovereignty, national courts create potential for conflict and cooperation. A transnational law perspective illustrates the porous nature between domestic and international spheres, highlighting how domestic courts have become adjudicators for state and non-state actors that operate across mainstream levels of analysis. Our approach calls on scholars to move beyond analyzing national legal systems as mechanisms of compliance to instead consider domestic courts as co-creators of international order.

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ‘SUPRA-CONSTITUTIONAL’ LIMITS ON CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaniv Roznai
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Constitutional Amendments ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article examines whether there are any limitations on constitutional amendment powers that are external to the constitutional system and above it—‘supra-constitutional’ limits. It considers the theory and practice of the relationship between natural law, international law or other supranational law, and domestic constitutional law in a comparative prism. After considering the alleged supremacy of supranational law over constitutional amendments, the author explores the problem of the relationship between the different legal orders in the external/internal juridical spheres, and the important potential and actual role of national courts in ‘domesticating’ supranational law and enforcing its supremacy. It is claimed that despite the growing influence of supranational law, state practice demonstrates that constitutional law is still generally superior to international law, and even when the normative hierarchical superiority of supranational law is recognized within the domestic legal order, this supremacy derives not from supranational law as a separate legal order, but rather from the constitution itself. Therefore, it is claimed that existing practice regarding arguments of ‘supra-constitutional’ limitations are better described by explicit or implicit limitations within the constitution itself, through which supranational standards can be infused to serve as valid limitations on constitutional amendment powers.

The National Judge as an Ordinary Judge of International Law? Invocability of Treaty Law in National Courts

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-301
Author(s):  
SAÏDA EL BOUDOUHI
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Primary Responsibility ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Different Types ◽  
French Case

AbstractSince the Simmenthal case of the ECJ, the national judge has been coined the ‘ordinary judge of EU law’, meaning that this judge has the primary responsibility for ensuring the effectiveness of EU law through different techniques. While there has been a large amount of research on the role of domestic courts in relation to international law, the question of whether the domestic judge could also be characterized as the ‘ordinary judge of international law’ in the sense the phrase is used regarding EU law has never been raised. This article identifies the contents of the phrase in the context of EU law in order to test it against international law. It undertakes this by transposing the different types of invocability – direct effect, invocability of consistent interpretation, invocability of damages, and invocability of exclusion – which set the national judge as a primary judge of EU law, to international law before domestic judges. While the analysis relies mainly on French case law relating to international law, comparisons are drawn, where relevant, between the case law of this jurisdiction and that of other jurisdictions in order to establish a general trend. This permits the conclusion that, while the French courts remain reluctant to ensure the effectiveness of international law through the adoption of the different techniques of invocability, other domestic judges behave as ordinary judges of international law in a way that is very similar to the way the national judges treat EU law.

International Law Before English and Asian Courts: Finding the Judicial Role in the Separation of Powers

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-304
Author(s):  
Veronika FIKFAK
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Domestic Law ◽  
Judicial Role

This article questions the idea that the role of domestic courts in relation to international law is triggered only when international law is incorporated into domestic law by the other branches of government. It argues that domestic courts have extensive powers in defining their role vis-à-vis international law and influencing the relationship between domestic and international law. By going beyond the typical monist-dualist discussions, the first part of the article presents how English and American courts, by giving different meanings to the term “part”, reveal how they perceive their relationships with the other government branches and their role in relation to international law. The article then investigates whether similar judicial techniques can be identified in Asian courts’ treatment of international law. In showcasing the approaches of some Asian courts, the article provides snapshots of how these judges actively shape their role vis-à-vis international law and how they construct their relationships with the Legislature and the Executive.

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.

The International Legal Personality of the Individual

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Individual ◽  
International Legal Personality ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World

This book scrutinizes the relationship between the concept of international legal personality as a theoretical construct and the position of the individual as a matter of positive international law. By testing four main theoretical conceptions of international legal personality against historical and existing international legal norms that govern individuals, the book argues that the common narrative about the development of the role of the individual in international law is flawed. Contrary to conventional wisdom, international law did not apply to States alone until the Second World War, only to transform during the second half of the twentieth century to include individuals as its subjects. Rather, the answer to the question of individual rights and obligations under international law is—and always was—solely contingent upon the interpretation of international legal norms. It follows, of course, that the entities governed by a particular norm tell us nothing about the legal system to which that norm belongs. Instead, the distinction between international and national legal norms turns exclusively on the nature of their respective sources. Against the background of these insights, the book shows how present-day international lawyers continue to allow an idea, which was never more than a scholarly invention of the nineteenth century, to influence the interpretation and application of contemporary international law. This state of affairs has significant real-world ramifications as international legal rights and obligations of individuals (and other non-State entities) are frequently applied more restrictively than interpretation without presumptions regarding ‘personality’ would merit.

scholarly journals Designing for international law: The architecture of international organizations 1922–1952

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Miriam Bak McKenna
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Organization ◽  
International Labour Organization ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Physical Manifestation ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Do So

Abstract Situating itself in current debates over the international legal archive, this article delves into the material and conceptual implications of architecture for international law. To do so I trace the architectural developments of international law’s organizational and administrative spaces during the early to mid twentieth century. These architectural endeavours unfolded in three main stages: the years 1922–1926, during which the International Labour Organization (ILO) building, the first building exclusively designed for an international organization was constructed; the years 1927–1937 which saw the great polemic between modernist and classical architects over the building of the Palace of Nations; and the years 1947–1952, with the triumph of modernism, represented by the UN Headquarters in New York. These events provide an illuminating allegorical insight into the physical manifestation, modes of self-expression, and transformation of international law during this era, particularly the relationship between international law and the function and role of international organizations.

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 ON THE ISSUE OF SYSTEMATIZATION AND SYSTEMATIZATION OF THE BRANCH OF INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMS LAW

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (11(61)) ◽  
pp. 77-82
Author(s):  
Nina A. Ronzhina ◽  
Yaroslav V. Okhrimenko
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The Relationship

The article is devoted to the theory of taxonomy of the branch of international customs law (ICL). The article considers scientific positions and innovations that touch upon the issues of consistency and systematization of the industry in the context of established international customs relations. The authors investigate the relationship between the sign of consistency and the processes of theoretical systematization of the industry, prove the presence in its structure of a full complex of backbone elements necessary to establish the place and role of the ICC in the system of international law.

Governing International Cooperation in Criminal Matters: The Role of the aut dedere aut judicare Principle

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Caligiuri
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
The Status ◽  
Criminal Matters ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

The aim of the study is to ascertain how the original Grotian formula ‘aut dedere aut punire’ has been implemented and evolved in international law. The first step is to classify the multilateral conventions that have accepted an aut dedere aut judicare clause. The goal is to bring out peculiarities of the different treaty texts, describing the relationship between the two options dedere and judicare, and the different obligations that arise for the contracting states. We will then examine the content of the two options, to define the legal boundaries within which the contracting states shall or may operate. At this point, we will focus on the legal nature of the aut dedere aut judicare principle that over time may have risen to the status of customary rule. The study will conclude with analysis of reactions to the breach of the aut dedere aut judicare clause by non-complying countries.

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