Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Cohen: The Continuing Impact of French Legal Culture on the International Court of Justice

Mathilde Cohen (Univ. of Connecticut - Law) has posted The Continuing Impact of French Legal Culture on the International Court of Justice (in Comparative International Law, Anthea Roberts, Paul B. Stephan, Pierre-Hugues Verdier, & Mila Versteeg eds., pp. 181-205, 2017). Here's the abstract:
This chapter proposes a reflection on comparative international courts rather than comparative international law more broadly understood. International courts are approached differently by various legal actors who may be influenced by their own national legal environments. Though there is a long tradition of scholarly thinking about the role of particular national traditions in shaping international law, be it substantive or procedural law, little attention has been paid to the influence of domestic legal cultures and languages on the design and internal organization of international courts. Yet, is there such a thing as a specifically international way of designing and running courts tasked with resolving international disputes? Focusing on the ICJ and its predecessor court, the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), this chapter aims to make the reach of domestic norms, in particular French legal culture, in the design and daily operation of international courts more salient.