Forum 2: A Period of Legalisation?

Chaired by Lord Collins of Mapesbury

The collapse of the Iron Curtain fostered hopes for the ‘rule of international law’, and one of the dominant international legal narratives since then has been legalisation. Twenty years later, has an  international rule of law begun to appear? Has there really been a trend towards legalisation in international affairs and, if so, what have been the forces and processes promoting this? Have some areas of  international affairs become more legalised than others and, if so, why? Can legalisation be equated with increased prospects for justice in its various manifestations?

Soft law and the legalisation of international relations

PROFESSOR MARY FOOTER, Professor of Internaitonal Economic Law, University of Nottingham School of Law

Abstract :The last two decades herald an unprecedented period of legalization in the field of international relations. Normative activity has intensified across a broad range of subject matter areas in the fields of public and private international law. Transnational legal and political processes encompass a variety of actors, including governments, regulators, individuals and civil society, resulting in a demand for different levels of participation in law-making processes. These can range from formal rule-making, such as treaty and statute, to less formal or informal rule-making, such as standard-setting. Drawing on international relations theory this paper explores the role of soft law in steering a course between different forms of legalization in the field of public international law. This is particularly apparent in situations of uncertainty caused by asymmetries of information or bargaining power. The same approach is applied to legalization in the field of private international law. Here soft law has a role to play in mediating conflicts between actors from various legal traditions by means of uniform and harmonised instruments. Examples of soft law from across the public/private divide are provided in order to illustrate the profound influence that soft law has on the legalization of international relations.

Biography: Professor Mary Footer joined the University of Nottingham in 2006, having previously taught at the University of Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam and University  College London. She holds a JD in civil law (UNA), an LLM in Public International Law (UCL) and a PhD cum laude (Erasmus). Her publications are mainly in the field of international  economic law and the international regulation of (agro) biotechnology. She is researching the role of soft law in international economic relations, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, and  supported by a Fernand Braudel Fellowship at the EUI. Professor Footer is co-chair of the ESIL International Economic Law Interest Group.

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Legalisation after 1989: an appraisal of the evidence

PROFESSOR ANDRE NOLLKAEMPER, Professor of Public International Law, Amsterdam Centre for International Law, University of Amsterdam

Abstract: The paper first places the concept of legalization in the context of the strive towards the international rule of law – framing it not so much as a random consequence of strategic moves on particular unrelated issue-areas, but as a goal in itself that is instrumental to the objective of an international rule of law. It then proceeds to a discussion of the question to what extent since 1989, we indeed have seen an increase in the legalization. For that aim, it provides a typology of indicators of legalization, distinguishing between the source of the instrument, its normative contents, and enforcement modalities. It then assesses on the basis of empirical information to what extent, and in particular in what ways we indeed can speak of a period of legalization after 1989. It reviews among other indicators, trends in the number of treaties since 1989, decisions of international organisations, dispute settlement arrangements, etcetera. In this context it also discusses some methodological pitfalls in making general statements on the process of generalization. It then proceeds to identify trends and briefly discusses explanations that have been offered in existing literature. It then focuses on what appears to be a power explanation, namely the degree of domestication of the international law. In that context, it explores trends in the substance of international law, as well as possible correlations with increasing receptiveness for international law at national level.

Biography: André Nollkaemper is Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Amsterdam. He is Editor-in-Chief of International Law in Domestic Courts. He is also of-counsel for international law with Böhler Lawyers, an Amsterdam-based law-firm specializing in transnational litigation, and Member of the Advisory Committee for  Public International Law of the Government of the Netherlands. He is author of National Courts and the International Rule of Law (OUP 2010) and recipient of a 5-year Advance  Investigator Grant by the European Science Foundation for a project on Shared Responsibility in International Law (2010-2015).

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Plus = moins : le droit international du XXIème siècle : le droit sans la foi

PROFESSEUR ALAIN PELLET, Université Paris Ouest / Nanterre-La Défense / ILC

Abstract:  Alors que la société internationale connaît une soif inégalée de droit, la croyance dans les vertus et l’efficacité du droit international n’a cessé de s’amenuiser depuis l’avènement des Nations Unies.  Le droit traditionnel se limitait à peu de règles, applicables à un petit nombre de domaines ; aujourd’hui, le « domaine réservé » des États se réduit comme une peau de chagrin et l’on assiste, surtout depuis une quinzaine d’années, à une éruption mal maîtrisée de normes internationales, à un véritable big bang ou un tsunami normatif qui se traduit moins par une fragmentation du droit que par une croissance exponentielle de normes juridiques envahissantes.

International law now covers virtually all the fields of human activities and that it has become impossible to reasonably accept the very idea of a “reserved domain” or of “matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state”. But at the same time, law is no more envisaged as a tool for peace – or, in other words, that the World has lost confidence in international law. While, after World War II, it was the object of a very intense hope and States toughly fought legal struggles it has become a more or less efficient social management tool without project for the international society.

Biography: Agrégé des Facultés de Droit, Alain Pellet est professeur à l’Université Paris Ouest/Nanterre-La Défense depuis 1990. Il est membre de la Commission du Droit international des Nations Unies, qu’il a présidée en 1997, depuis 1990. Il est auteur ou co-auteur de plusieurs ouvrages (dont un traité de Droit international public (avec P. Daillier et M. Forteau 8ème éd. 2009) et il a co-dirigé (avec J.P.  Cot et M. Forteau) Un Commentaire de la Charte des Nations Unies (3ème éd. 2005) et (avec J. Crawford et S. Olleson) The Law of International Responsibility (2010)); il a publié de très nombreux articles

en droit international. Il est Associé de l’Institut de Droit international depuis 2007.

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