The International Judicial Function in Its (In)finite Variety, Assessing the Effectiveness of International Courts. By Yuval Shany. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. xix, 322. Index. $120, £70. - The International Judicial Function in Its (In)finite Variety, The Development of International Law by the International Court of Justice. Edited by Christian J. Tams and James Sloan. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. xxviii, 400. Index. $125, £70. - The International Judicial Function in Its (In)finite Variety, The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication. Edited by Cesare P. R. Romano, Karen J. Alter, and Yuval Shany. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. xcii, 975. Index. $210, £125.

Jeffrey Dunoff and Mark Pollack's Judicial Trilemma is a refreshing challenge to prevailing narratives about judicial decision-making in international courts and tribunals and is part of a growing wave of scholarship deploying empirical, social science-driven methodology to theorize the place of judicial institutions in the international legal field. Seeking to peek behind the black robes and divine the reasoning behind judicial decisions without descending into speculation and actively trying to thwart considerations of confidentiality is a fraught endeavor on which I have expressed skepticism in the past. The Judicial Trilemma admirably seeks to overcome these challenges, and I commend the authors for tackling the hard question as to whether one can truly glance behind the black robe.

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A Legal Journey Through the UN, Academia, and the ICJ: Conversations with Dame Rosalyn Higgins DBE, JSD, FBA, QC

Legal Information Management ◽

10.1017/s1472669615000250 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 86-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lesley Dingle

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Formative Period ◽

International Affairs ◽

International Court Of Justice ◽

Court Of Justice ◽

International Court ◽

Depth Interview ◽

The Icj ◽

Global Peace ◽

International Adjudication

AbstractThis article, written by Lesley Dingle, is based upon an in-depth interview with Dame Rosalyn Higgins in March 2014. It highlights particular elements that characterise her contribution to legal scholarship and international adjudication, and should be read in the context of the biography presented in the Eminent Scholars Archive: http://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/eminent_scholars/dame_rosalyn_higgins.php. Dame Rosalyn Higgins was born in Kensington in 1937. She grew up in London during the Blitz and her matter-of-fact account of these times epitomised her later career: application to the task in hand, and a lack of a sense of expectation. After the War, she passed successively through grammar school, Girton College, Yale and the Royal Institute of International affairs, steadily immersing herself over fifteen years in the work of the United Nations during its formative period. It was on the UN's role as the global peace-keeper and international law-maker that she became the acknowledged authority. There followed a long period of formal academia (1978–95: Kent and LSE), during which she rose to high office. This experience further honed her scholarly and administrative instincts, and she was honoured in 1995 with a DBE. Later that year Dame Rosalyn was appointed to the Bench of the International Court of Justice – the first woman to rise to this position, and in 2006 was elected its President. She retired in 2009.

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