Force Majeure and Hardship provide legal tools to deal with the effect of unexpected future events and unforeseen changes in circumstances, particularly in long-term contracts. Given its global and unprecedented dimensions, its lethal potential and its drastic effects on international contracts...

Is it time to end the practice of double hatting in international adjudication? In this ESIL Reflection, we examine the practice of double hatting in the specific context of international investment arbitration. We ask three questions: how widespread is the practice; when is it a problem; and what...

The development of the modern investment treaty regime represents a remarkable extension of international law in the post-war period. However, the development of this regime has precipitated a backlash from some states, various civil society actors, and scholars over the past decade. For all...

The growth in the signing of international investment agreements (IIAs) in the period 1990 to 2009 can be characterised as an international public policy bubble. Like the rise of privatisation at the domestic level, the expansion of this international treaty regime was arguably premised on an...

States have sought to promote renewable energy generation as a means of meeting international and regional climate change objectives. These very policy initiatives are coming under attack when they might conflict with a state's other international and regional obligations in the areas of...

This article aims at ascertaining the role and relevance of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) in investment arbitration. The PICC are ‘a non-legislative codification or “restatement” of the law of international commercial contracts in general' produced by...

The legitimacy debates surrounding investment treaty arbitration are intensifying. At the same time, the number of claims filed continues on a growth trajectory. Some commentators believe that the practice of investment treaty arbitration will evolve over time; and as the regime evolves, many -...

As with any international legal order, the modern investment treaty regime might serve multiple purposes; but it appears that one purpose stands out as the primary driver for the development and maintenance of the regime as it is currently practiced: providing effective legal remedies to foreign...

At the center of the EU's climate change policy is the EU Emissions Trading Scheme: an ambitious market-based approach to reducing GHG emissions within the EU. While commendable in theory, the practice of the EU ETS has exposed a number of issues regarding its compatibility with its own internal...

Have investment treaty arbitrators responded to the so-called ‘legitimacy crisis' that has beleaguered the international investment regime in the past decade? There are strong rational choice and discursive-based reasons for thinking that arbitrators would be responsive to the prevailing...