This book offers a unique insight into the inner workings of international courts and tribunals. Combining the rigour of the essay and the creativity of the novel, Tommaso Soave narrates the invisible practices and interactions that make up the dispute settlement process, from the filing of the initial complaint to the issuance of the final decision. At each step, the book unravels the myriad activities of the legal experts running the international judiciary – judges, arbitrators, agents, counsel, advisors, bureaucrats, and specialized academics – and reveals their pervasive power in the process. The cooperation and competition among these inner circles of professionals lie at the heart of international judicial decisions. By shedding light on these social dynamics, Soave takes the reader on a journey through the lives, ambitions, and preoccupations of the everyday makers of international law.

One of the great tasks, perhaps the greatest, weighing on modern international lawyers is to craft a universal law and legal process capable of ordering relations among diverse people with differing religions, histories, cultures, laws, and languages. In so doing, we need to take the world's peoples as we find them and not pretend out of existence their wide variety. This volume builds on the eleven essaysedited by Mark Janis in 1991 in The Influence of Religion and the Development of International Law, more than doubling its authors and essays and covering more religious traditions. Now included are studies of the interface between international law and ancient religions, Confucianism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as essays addressing the impact of religious thought on the literature and sources of international law, international courts, and human rights law.

International Law: Our Common Future offers a dynamic approach to the study of international law that actively engages students in ways that more traditional textbooks do not. One way this is achieved is by focusing on recent events, including international terrorism, extraordinary rendition, the legality of drone strikes, environmental devastation, and human rights. Another is by having students wrestle with actual court rulings rather than being given short summaries of these decisions. These cases, which are from a wide array of international, regional, and domestic tribunals, are followed by a series of provocative and challenging questions and prompts that will naturally lead to classroom discussion and debate. The book recognizes the importance of visual media in terms of student learning. In addition to photographs of individuals and events that feature prominently in the development of international law, each chapter has sections entitled "International Law at the Movies" which highlight feature films and documentaries that explore the topic at hand. What students will quickly come to realize is that international law is not a distant and abstract entity, but rather, is intimately connected to various aspects of their daily lives. The book shows some of the remarkable changes in international law, most notably the declining importance of the role of the state. As a final point, the book is written in an engaging, almost conversational, style that is accessible to students in a wide array of academic disciplines. FEATURES OF THIS INNOVATIVE TEXT This book is specifically designed to appeal to student interest, to promote active learning, and to integrate carefully edited court cases with explanatory text. Here are just a few of the features devoted to achieving these goals: Boxed text highlighting current events “International Law at the Movies” boxes Photos illustrating key moments and figures in international law Cases carefully edited and set off from the main text Notes and Comments following court case excerpts References for each chapter divided into key types of sources including Books and Articles, Reports, Agreements, and Cases (international, regional, and domestic tribunals) Glossary of key terms putting terms in context with events Filmography Table of Cases with links to original sources A NOTE ABOUT THE COVER ART Title: “María, inside since April 14, 2014” Artist: Ben Betsalel The cover image is from a prison project in Colombia, "Human Beings Inside and Outside," done in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

International courts and tribunals differ in their institutional composition and functions, but a shared characteristic is their reliance on the contribution of individuals other than the judicial decision-makers themselves. Such 'unseen actors' may take the form of registrars and legal officers, but also non-lawyers such as translators and scientific experts. Unseen actors are vital to the functioning of international adjudication, exerting varying levels of influence on judicial processes and outcomes. The opaqueness of their roles, combined with the significance of judicial decisions for the parties involved as well as a wider range of stakeholders, raises questions about unseen actors' impact on the legitimacy of international dispute settlement. This book aims to answer such legitimacy questions and identify 'best practices' through a multifaceted enquiry into common connections and patterns in the institutional composition and daily practice of international courts and tribunals.

This book examines the everyday functioning and impact of international law and the development project, particularly across cities in emergent nations.

Since its founding, the United States has defined itself as the supreme protector of freedom throughout the world, pointing to its Constitution as the model of law to ensure democracy at home and to protect human rights internationally. Although the United States has consistently emphasized the importance of the international legal system, it has simultaneously distanced itself from many established principles of international law and the institutions that implement them. In fact, the American government has attempted to unilaterally reshape certain doctrines of international law while disregarding others, such as provisions of the Geneva Conventions and the prohibition on torture. America’s selective self-exemption, Natsu Taylor Saito argues, undermines not only specific legal institutions and norms, but leads to a decreased effectiveness of the global rule of law. Meeting the Enemy is a pointed look at why the United States’ frequent—if selective—disregard of international law and institutions is met with such high levels of approval, or at least complacency, by the American public.

International Law is both an introduction to the subject and a critical consideration of its central themes and debates. The opening chapters of the book explain how international law underpins the international political and economic system by establishing the basic principle of the independence of States, and their right to choose their own political, economic, and cultural systems. Subsequent chapters then focus on considerations that limit national freedom of choice (e.g. human rights, the interconnected global economy, the environment). Through the organizing concepts of territory, sovereignty, and jurisdiction the book shows how international law seeks to achieve an established set of principles according to which the power to make and enforce policies is distributed among States.