Are human rights to be found in living instruments and practices that adapt to changing circumstances, or must they be interpreted according to their original meaning? That question, so heavily debated in the context of the rights of the U.S. Constitution, was never seriously on the table until...

Taking into account the authoritative nature of decisions of the ECHR, the latter could become an additional instrument in the argumentation toolkit for both, the investors and the host states. As it can be observed from the emergence of scholarly discussions on the topic, principles of the ECHR...

The author focuses on the notion of positive discrimination in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. A positive discrimination means in essence temporarily “abandoning” the equality principle, precisely in order to reestablish the equality of chances for certain...

Some commentators have recently proclaimed the U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act to be dead. In Nevsun Resources, the Canadian Supreme Court took a seemingly bold step in providing access to justice to victims of human rights abuses against corporate entities, presumably to partly fill this void. This...

Growing out of the authors' work for the International Criminal Court, which was sponsored by a grant from the Open Society Institute, No Way Out examines one of the most vexing legal questions facing the International Criminal Court - whether a State that has referred a case to the Court can...

In 2016 and 2017, states continued their engagement with international investment law. A small minority of states displayed scepticism or tried to disengage themselves from their investment law obligations. This chapter addresses select institutional developments in international investment law...

This paper deals with the question of the determination of the applicable law in international commercial arbitration. In particular, it focuses on the determination of the substantive law governing the legal relationship of the parties, as the law which needs to be distinguished from the law...

Energy security and energy sovereignty have their national and international dimensions. In the EU Member States, these dimensions are further complemented by the EU perspective. The concept of raw materials and energy security, as currently proclaimed by a number of states, is probably too...

Governments are facing an increasing number of arbitration claims by foreign investors relating to important public policies or seeking substantial damages, and many governments are taking a greater joint interest in how such cases are resolved in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). This...