Eric De Brabandere

Over the last thirty or so years, international law and legal practice have become increasingly more specialized and diversified. These developments come with an increasingly divergent legal practice, in what has been coined as 'special regimes'. This book proposes a new understanding of the concept of a special regime to explain why specialists in different fields of international law do similar things differently. It argues that special regimes are best conceived as communities of practice, in the sense of Etienne Wenger's theory of communities of practice. It explores how the theory of communities of practice translates to the context of international law and the concept of a special regime. The authors draw up an innovative methodology to investigate their theory, focused on the conduct of community members, and apply this method to selected case studies, offering an original approach to the understanding of the special regimes in international law.

The fully revised seventh edition of this successful textbook explains the legal and diplomatic methods and organisations used to solve international disputes, how they work and when they are used. It looks at diplomatic (negotiation, mediation, inquiry and conciliation) and legal methods (arbitration, judicial settlement). It uses many, up-to-date examples of each method in practice to place the theory of how the law works in real-life situations, demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of different methods when they are used. Fully updated throughout, the seventh edition includes a new introduction explaining the common principles of settlement and a chapter on investor–state arbitration, as well as recommended further readings at the end of each chapter. It is an essential resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses on international dispute settlement.

The fully revised seventh edition of this successful textbook explains the legal and diplomatic methods and organisations used to solve international disputes, how they work and when they are used. It looks at diplomatic (negotiation, mediation, inquiry and conciliation) and legal methods (arbitration, judicial settlement). It uses many, up-to-date examples of each method in practice to place the theory of how the law works in real-life situations, demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of different methods when they are used. Fully updated throughout, the seventh edition includes a new introduction explaining the common principles of settlement and a chapter on investor–state arbitration, as well as recommended further readings at the end of each chapter. It is an essential resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses on international dispute settlement.

Investment treaty arbitration is fast becoming one of the most common methods of dispute settlement in international law. Despite having ancient roots, tensions remain between the private interests in international investment relations and the public international law features of the arbitral procedure. This book, which presents an account of investment treaty arbitration as a part of public international law - as opposed to commercial law - provides an important contribution to the literature on this subject. Eric De Brabandere examines the procedural implications of conceiving of investment treaty arbitration in such a way, with regard to issues such as the principles of confidentiality and privacy, and remedies. The author demonstrates how the public international law character of investment treaty arbitration derives from, and has impacted upon, the dispute settlement procedure.

Investment treaty arbitration is fast becoming one of the most common methods of dispute settlement in international law. Despite having ancient roots, tensions remain between the private interests in international investment relations and the public international law features of the arbitral procedure. This book, which presents an account of investment treaty arbitration as a part of public international law - as opposed to commercial law - provides an important contribution to the literature on this subject. Eric De Brabandere examines the procedural implications of conceiving of investment treaty arbitration in such a way, with regard to issues such as the principles of confidentiality and privacy, and remedies. The author demonstrates how the public international law character of investment treaty arbitration derives from, and has impacted upon, the dispute settlement procedure.

Transnational investment involves a variety of actors (States, public and private legal entities, and natural persons) whose relationships are governed by rules and legal instruments belonging to different legal systems. This book provides a systematic study of the sources of rights and obligations in the field of transnational investment, and their coordination and interaction. It focuses primarily on the network of over 3,000 Bilateral Investment Treaties, international investment contracts, customary international law, the main multilateral treaties, national legislation, international case law and general principles of law. The book, firmly based on State practice, arbitral awards and national decisions, is indispensable to fully appraise the nature and content of the claims of private investors as well as to identify the law applicable in investment arbitration.