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Read more at: LCIL Friday Lecture: 'Competing Theories of Treaty Interpretation and the Divided Application by Investor-State Tribunals of Articles 31 and 32 of the VCLT' - Judge Charles N Brower, Twenty Essex

LCIL Friday Lecture: 'Competing Theories of Treaty Interpretation and the Divided Application by Investor-State Tribunals of Articles 31 and 32 of the VCLT' - Judge Charles N Brower, Twenty Essex

(Rescheduled from 25 November 2022) This lecture is now online. Lecture summary: It is alleged that the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) embodied the victory of Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice’s preference to interpret treaties based on the “ordinary meaning of the words” over Sir Hersh Lauterpacht’s view that one instead should seek to ascertain the treaty parties’ “actual intentions.” But is that so? If, as VCLT Article 31(1) provides, the focus is to be on “the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose,” and if that “ordinary meaning” is not, as per Article 32, “ambiguous,” “obscure,” “manifestly absurd or unreasonable,” then why should resort to “Supplementary Means of Interpretation” be appropriate at all “in order to confirm the meaning resulting from the application of article 31”? If, as many believe, the VCLT is hierarchical, shouldn’t interpretation be complete when an “ordinary meaning” is established that is “unambiguous,” not “obscure,” and “neither manifestly absurd or unreasonable”? Did those preferring to determine the treaty parties “actual intentions” in fact sneak into the VLCT’s text that provision for supplementary “confirmation” of a clear “ordinary meaning”? Is to that extent the VCLT in fact, as is said of treaties generally, “an agreement to disagree”? In reality, given the sequential submissions in international arbitrations, as well as before international courts and tribunals, each party, beginning with the Applicant’s or Claimant’s Memorial, followed by Respondent’s Counter-Memorial, the Reply Memorial etc., from the start places before the adjudicator all of its arguments under Section 3. of the VCLT (Articles 31-33). Judge Charles N Brower’s career has been divided between private law practice, first with White & Case LLP in New York City and Washington, D.C., since 2001 as an Arbitrator Member of Twenty Essex Chambers in London, and public service, first with the Office of The Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State (1969-73)(successively as Assistant Legal Adviser for European Affairs, Deputy Legal Adviser and Acting Legal Adviser), as Judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal (1983-present), as sub-Cabinet rank Deputy Special Counsellor to the President of the United States dealing with the Iran-Contra affair (1987), as Judge ad hoc of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (1999-2002)(appointed by Bolivia), and the most -appointed of the only five Americans ever to be appointed Judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice (2014-2022) (appointed by Colombia (1 case) and the United States (2 cases)).


Read more at: CELS/USC Antitrust Workshop: 'Inflation, Market Failures, and Algorithms'

CELS/USC Antitrust Workshop: 'Inflation, Market Failures, and Algorithms'

Title: 'Inflation, Market Failures, and Algorithms' Speaker: Professors Rory Van Loo, Boston University To register your interest for this event please contact Professor Oke Odudu ( oo201@cam.ac.uk )


Read more at: Talking Animals, Law and Philosophy event: 'Which 'All Subjected'-Principle for Animals?'

Talking Animals, Law and Philosophy event: 'Which 'All Subjected'-Principle for Animals?'

Please join us for our next event in the Talking Animals, Law & Philosophy series. Speaker: Peter Niesen (University of Hamburg) All events take place on Zoom from 5-6.30pm (UK time). They are free and open to all. For more information about the Talking Animals series and to register for the events, visit www...


Read more at: Talking Animals, Law and Philosophy event: 'The Rights of Apes' (Book launch)

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Please join us for our next event in the Talking Animals, Law & Philosophy series. Speakers: Paula Casal, Research Professor, Department of Law, University of Pompeu Fabra and Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University. Comments will be provided by...


Read more at: Talking Animals, Law & Philosophy event: 'Animals as Property, Quasi-Property or Quasi-Person'

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Please join us for our next event in the Talking Animals, Law & Philosophy series. Speaker: Angela Fernandez, Full Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto All events take place on Zoom from 5-6.30pm (UK time). They are free and open to all. For more information about the Talking Animals series and to register...


Read more at: Cambridge Legal Theory Discussion Group (CLTDG): 'Coherence and Guidance'

Cambridge Legal Theory Discussion Group (CLTDG): 'Coherence and Guidance'

Speaker: Meir Yarom (NYU) Meir Yarom (NYU) will be presenting his paper "Coherence & Guidance" for discussion, with a response to be given by Daniela Gueiros Dias (Cambridge). You can find below the abstract of the paper, the link to the Zoom meeting and the link to the paper. Everyone is welcome to attend! The Zoom...


Read more at: Cambridge Legal Theory Discussion Group (CLTDG): 'The Moral Case for Following Precedent'

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Speaker: Nathan Van Wees (Oxford) Zoom link The Paper Abstract: Can we explain why (and how) judges follow precedent just by looking at their moral reasons? I think so. My paper gives an account of those reasons, and their limitations. I argue that moral agency attaches to a judge’s office. If two judges inhabit the same...


Read more at: Cambridge Legal Theory Discussion Group (CLTDG): 'Rules & Practices'

Cambridge Legal Theory Discussion Group (CLTDG): 'Rules & Practices'

You are warmly invited to attend the 2nd session of the Cambridge Legal Theory Discussion Group of this term, to be held next Tuesday, 1st November from 17:30 to 19:00 in an online format. Alma Diamond (NYU) will be presenting her paper "Rules & Practices" for discussion, with a response to be given by Dan Ward (...


Read more at: Cambridge Socio-Legal Group Seminar: 'The Reasonable Person: A biographical introduction to an empathetic character' *Now online only*

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** Originally due to have been held on 30 November 2022. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. ** Speaker: Valentin Jeutner, Oxford University Abstract: The presentation argues that the reasonable person is, at heart, an empathetic perspective-taking device born amidst the British industrialization under the influence of...


Read more at: Cambridge Legal Theory Discussion Group (CLTDG): 'The History of Law and Its Rational Reconstructions'

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You are warmly invited to attend the first session of the Cambridge Legal Theory Discussion Group for the term, to be held on the 18th of October, from 5.30pm to 7pm, over Zoom. This session will be chaired by Alec Thompson (Cambridge) who will be presenting his paper "The History of Law and Its Rational Reconstructions"...