Law Commons^™

Promise Against Peril: Of Power, Purpose, And Principle In International Law, Robert Hockett

Robert C. Hockett

I take two recent monographs on international law – Mary Ellen O’Connell’s "The Power and Purpose of International Law," and Eric Posner’s "The Perils of Global Legalism," as case studies in a more general inquiry into the role of the "rule of law" ideal in domestic and international law. I argue that international and domestic law alike give varyingly explicit and effective expression to the rule of law ideal, and that the task before us is accordingly steadily to improve their effectiveness in so doing, not to pretend that there is no role for this ideal to play in interpreting …

Transnational Litigation, Mahdev Mohan

Mahdev Mohan

In 2013, the United States Supreme Court held that it had no jurisdiction to hear a case relating to conduct which occurred outside U.S. territory, and that concerned a suit brought against a company based outside the U.S. Today referred to as the ‘Kiobel decision’, it represents a significant shift of the aperture of transnational corporate accountability away from the U.S. – which generally has been the default venue – and towards regional and foreign jurisdictions where violations occur, or where responsible beneficiaries of the wrongdoings reside or conduct their businesses.

Mahdev Mohan, an Assistant Professor of Law at the …

On Genealogy Of Proposals To Reform Investor-State Arbitration, Ahmad Ghouri

Ahmad Ali Ghouri

Investor-State arbitration cases involving public interest regulation have been understood as struggles between advocates of the free movement of investment capital, such as multinational corporations, and environmental or human rights interest groups. The critical questions have been framed as follows: should the competing values and interests in public interest regulatory disputes be reconciled through investor-State arbitration? Should arbitrators be permitted to incorporate non-investment international norms into investment law and interpret investment treaties by applying international law generally? Is the development of international law better served by States, as representatives of their peoples, determining the balance of protection and costs by …