The Everyday Makers of International Law
From Great Halls to Back Rooms

Part essay, part novel, this book reveals how international courts produce their judgments and what invisible actors shape their decisions.

Tommaso Soave (Author)

9781009248020, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 August 2024

377 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.546 kg

'… Soave's apparent joy in writing his fictional vignettes is contagious. His text provides a vivid, memorable, and convincing behind-the-scenes description of the everyday life of those responsible for making international judicial decisions. This creative and challenging book brings to light an important set of actors and activities to which the scholarship has only turned its attention in the past decade or so. As any good scholarship, it leaves the reader with a taste for more, highlighting how much more unraveling remains to be done.' Tamar M. Egiddo, American Journal of International Law

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.

1. Carnegieplein 2, 10:00 am
2. Coffee, cigarettes, and international judicial practices
3. A new generation of litigators
4. Telling a story
5. The invisible army
6. The three wise monkeys
7. The lyophilization of life
8. The memo
9. To capture the world
10. Bricolage
11. The explorer
12. A four-letter word
13. What does it mean…
14. The stage
15. The moment of (constructed) truth
16. Truth woven together
17. Spijkermakersstraat 9, 8:00 pm.

Subject Areas: Laws of Specific jurisdictions [LN], International courts & procedures [LBHG], Settlement of international disputes [LBH], Public international law [LBB], International law [LB]