Customary International Law and Its Interpretation by International Courts: Volume 3
Theories, Methods and Interactions

Aims to shine the light on international courts and how they deal with the interpretation of custom in their practice.

Marina Fortuna (Edited by), Kostia Gorobets (Edited by), Panos Merkouris (Edited by), Andreas Føllesdal (Edited by), Geir Ulfstein (Edited by), Pauline Westerman (Edited by)

9781009541329, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 November 2024

408 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.7 cm, 0.71 kg

It is notorious that international courts and tribunals have greatly contributed to the development of customary international law (CIL) by, for instance, articulating the constituent elements of custom and clarifying the conditions required for its modification. This volume demonstrates that they have also been actively engaged in the interpretation of CIL. In elucidating CIL interpretation before and by international courts and tribunals, the volume chooses three focal points: theory, method and normative interactions. Viewing CIL and its interpretation from these vantage points leads to a more complete picture of the role and function of CIL interpretation in international courts. The volume encourages readers to question orthodox theories on CIL and its interpretation, to look anew at what has long been labelled mere identification of custom, and to take a systemic approach to CIL, which, even in the process of interpretation, remains unwaveringly connected to treaties and general principles of law.

Part I. Theoretical Approaches to CIL and its Interpretation: 1. The illusion of Gold-Digging: interpretation of State practice Pauline Westerman
2. Addressing the chronological Paradox: Constitutive rules and the constructive interpretation of CIL Henrique Marcos
3. Interpreting the plural sources of CIL Harlan Grant Cohen
4. Interpretation dynamics in CIL: an entropic approach Eleni Micha
Part II. Methods of CIL Interpretation in International Courts
Tools of the Trade: 5. The application of logic and reason in CIL interpretation William Worster
6. The interpretation of 'direction and control' in the investor State Arbitration: the case of State-owned enterprises Paula Baldini Miranda Da Cruz
7. The court of justice of the EU and CIL interpretation: close encounters of a third kind? Tamás Molnár
8. Judicial effectiveness or judicial Ambiguity: is CIL an instrument for judicial activism in excess? Leoni Ayoub
9. Judicial dialogue between International Courts in the interpretation of customary International Human Rights Law Silviana Cocan
Part III. CIL and its Interpretation in the Normative Universe: drifting towards Coherence?: 10. 'General principles of law' and the interpretation of CIL Craig Eggett
11. The role of treaties and general principles of law in the interpretation of customary rules Marina Fortuna
12. Reconciling conflicting norms of CIL – towards a mode of practical concordance at the ICJ Raphael Oidtmann
13. Indicators of coherence and interpretation of CIL Charalampos Giannakopoulos
Bibliography, Index.

Subject Areas: Public international law [LBB]