LCIL Workshop on "Authority" in International Dispute Settlement

This British Academy-funded workshop brings together early career and established scholars in international law and neighbouring disciplines. It focuses on the empirical study of “authorities” in international dispute settlement, and is held at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge on 20 March 2017. This is an invitation-only workshop.

“Authority” refers to any opinion, judgment, award, academic work, etc. that the actors in international dispute settlement use to argue or support a proposition. At a time when international courts and tribunals show record levels of activity, the use of “authorities” warrants empirical study.

The workshop addresses questions such as: what constitutes an “authority”? How to courts and others create authorities? How do courts use them? Do various international courts and tribunals use authorities in different ways? Is there a link between the “authority” of a tribunal and the “authoritativeness” of its future decisions? How does the use of authorities affect the legitimacy of courts?

Workshop participants share a common interest in studying international law using empirical methods. An important aim of the workshop is for early career scholars to learn from more experienced researchers and to develop ideas for their own empirical research projects.

Expressions of interest shall be sent to Damien Charlotin (dc655@cam.ac.uk) by 10 January 2017, with a description of your research interests and how they relate to the theme of the workshop, plus a CV with a list of publications. The organiser will let applicants know by 20 January 2017 about the outcome of their application.

For further information please see the programme.

If you would like to be notified by email about forthcoming lectures and events, please contact admin@lcil.cam.ac.uk.