Internationalization Of Law

The book provides an overview of how international law is today constructed through diverse macro and microprocesses that expand its traditional subjects and sources, with the attribution of sovereign capacity and power to the international plane (moving the international toward the national). Simultaneously, national laws approximate laws of other nations (moving among nations or moving the national toward the international) and new sources of legal norms emerge, independent of states and international organisations. This expansion occurs in many subject areas, with specific structures: commercial, environmental, human rights, humanitarian, financial, criminal and labor law contribute to the formation of post national law with different modes of functioning, different actors and different sources of law that should be understood as a new complexity of law.

The internationalization of commerce and contemporary life has led to a globalization of legal standards and practices. The essays in this text explore this new reality and suggest ways in which the new legal order can be made more just and effective.

This book examines the institutions that are producing consumer law at the international level, the substantive issues enshrined in these laws, and the enforcement mechanisms meant to ensure effective protection. The majority of existing research is devoted to the comparative perspective, between countries or between the US and the EU. This book investigates the forceful activities of international and regional organizations, and shifts the focus of research to the internationalization of consumer law, which is largely neglected in particular in the Western-centered political and legal debate. Much of what constitutes consumer law today is focused on banking and finance, and more broadly the financialization and digitalization of the global economy, and society has created a shift in international consumer law production. This book investigates the role that international organizations have on the creation and enforcement of consumer law, and will be of interest to consumer lawyers, practitioners, and officials in organizations such as the United Nations, European Union, and World Bank.

This volume provides an overview of the state of internationalisation of legal education (IOLE) in many civil law and common law countries. It provides a picture of the status of the debate about the shape and degree of internationalisation in the curriculum in the different countries, and the debates surrounding the adoption of a more international approach to legal education in the contemporary world. It is a compilation of the National Reports submitted for the August 2014 Congress of the IACL held at Vienna, and contains an introductory general report. Together, the reports examine such questions as: Why is the topic of internationalization of legal education on the agenda now? Why is it a relevant subject for examination today? Does the topic generate the same level of interest everywhere in the world? Is enthusiasm for IOLE mainly driven by the academic sector, by government, by multinational corporations? Is the interest closely linked with the globalization of the practice of law? Or is globalisation of law itself something of a myth, or a reality reserved for only a very small percentage of practising lawyers around the world? The general and national reports make clear that there is indeed widespread interest in IOLE, and numerous disparate initiatives around the world. Nonetheless, some National Reporters state that the topic is simply not on the agenda at all. All in all, the volume shows that the approaches to internationalisation are many and varied, but every jurisdiction recognises the importance of introducing aspiring lawyers to a more integrated global environment.

By combining a method – comparative studies – with an ongoing process – the internationalization of law, that is, its extension beyond national borders – this Chair looks to the future, as uncertain as it may be. Of course current events tragically highlight the absence of a real legal world order. The collective security system of the Charter of the United Nations has shown its weaknesses and law has been unable to disarm force. Conversely, however, force cannot prevent this unprecedented extension of law, to the extent that no State can lastingly override it. In spite of appearances, it is no longer possible today to ignore the superposition of regional, national and global standards, nor the over-abundance of both national and international institutions and judges, with expanded jurisdiction. The new realities are causing law to evolve into complex and highly unstable interactive systems that are perhaps more symptomatic of profound change than of the defeat of law: we are faced with a change in the very conception of the legal order.

Special economic zones (SEZs) have become a permanent feature of the world trade scene. This book, the first to provide a critical and comprehensive analysis of SEZs covering a wide spectrum of countries and regions, shows how SEZs, albeit established at the domestic level by different countries, raise multiple legal issues under international economic law. This first-rate book is the product of the Asia FDI Forum IV held in Hong Kong in 2018. Thoroughly exploring the development of the SEZ phenomenon and its players, the contributing authors (all leading economic law experts) review the issues raised by SEZs in the context of international trade law, international investment law and investment arbitration. They identify the extent to which SEZs have been coherent in their design and policymaking, in particular with regard to domestic law reforms. They address such aspects (both core themes and specific examples) as the following: investment protection in China’s SEZs; state-owned enterprises regulation; dispute settlement; under what circumstances incentives available in SEZs count as export subsidies prohibited under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules; compliance with internal market rules in European Union (EU) free zones; local populations as victims of land expropriation; Brazil’s Manaus Free Trade Zone; India’s experience with multiple SEZs; the administrative approval system in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone; economic corridors and transit routes as SEZs; ‘refugee cities’: SEZs for migrants; how China’s Supreme People’s Court serves national strategy; how foreign investors challenge free-zone regimes; impacts of the establishment of SEZs on tax revenues; SEZs and labour migration; and management models. The chapters also include insights into the new emerging generation of international investment agreements; WTO accession, transparency, and case law materials clarifying specific trade issues associated with SEZs; and new rules to protect the environment and labour rights, as well as analysis of crucially significant cases such as Goetz v. The Republic of Burundi, Lee Jong Baek v. Kyrgyzstan and Ampal-American and Others v. Egypt. With its critical and comprehensive analysis of the dynamic SEZ phenomenon across legal, economic, investment, regulatory and policy matrices – including a thorough analysis of the success factors and required policies for SEZs – this book takes a giant step towards answering the question whether SEZs fundamentally contradict norms of international law or whether SEZs have to be considered as laboratories which facilitate the implementation of international economic policies. Its careful examination of theory and practice and its approach to lessons learned from case studies will reward trade and investment officials, policymakers, diplomats, economists, lawyers, think tanks, business leaders and others interested in this ever more important area of law and economics.

This groundbreaking Research Handbook provides a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the impact of international law on cities. It sheds light on the growing global role of cities and makes the case for a renewed understanding of international law in the light of the urban turn.

Diplomacy is transforming and expanding its role as the method of interstate relations to a general instrument of communication among globalized societies. Adapting to globalization, the practice of diplomacy is shared by non-state participants, thus becoming privatized and popularized. This book offers a comprehensive understanding of the widening scope of public as well as private diplomacy and its normative framework. It features a practitioner’s inside view of diplomacy combined with interdisciplinary academic analysis.