Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) have become an essential legal instrument in international investment law for economic growth and development. BITs and multilateral investment treaties encourage foreign direct investment by providing legal protection to investors of the “home” state,...

In their majority, public international lawyers postulate that for a new rule of customary law to originate, two conditions must be fulfilled: there must be consistent practice, and it must be shown that this practice is motivated by the belief that such behaviour is required in law. Maurice...

The starting point of this chapter is that investment law partly borrows and partly diverges from pre-existing regimes of international law, and an interpreter of an investment protection treaty is required to determine the degree of similarity and difference so as to elaborate the ordinary...

Economic sanctions have become an increasingly favored tool of Western states in their international relations over the last several decades, but there have also been growing questions regarding the lawfulness of autonomous sanctions (those not authorized by the U.N. Security Council) generally,...

The fair and equitable treatment (FET) provision has leapt to prominence in the last 15 years as the principal ground of liability at issue in many if not most investment treaty arbitration claims. In debates about the impact of investment treaties on the right to regulate, FET is second only to...

The most fundamental principle of contemporary international law is its emphasis on the peaceful resolution of disputes. This principle is amplified by Article 2(3) of the UN Charter encouraging states to live in peace and unity, and to settle their disputes such that international peace,...

This paper analyses the potentially conflictual provisions of the Agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) pertaining to plant genetic resources and intellectual property rights (IPRs). It concludes that...

Diplomatic assurances are agreements reached between the State from which an individual is to be transferred and the receiving State that the individual to be transferred is not at risk of suffering certain human rights abuses. Such assurances are generally sought from States that are known for...