Entire day Esil Interest Group meetings
15:00 –
18:00 Registration of ESIL Conference Participants
Thursday, 4 September 2014
08:00 –
14:00 Registration of participants Juridicum
Lobby
08:00 –
09:00 Breakfast Meeting Interest Group Conveners’ Meeting Juridicum Top Floor 09:00 -
18:00
Book Exhibitor's Space Juridicum
Top Floor 09:00 –
10:30
Parallel Agorae
Agora: International Law as a Generator of National Law Conveners: David Caron (King’s College London) and André Nollkaemper (University of Amsterdam)
International law has greatly expanded. Today, almost all spheres of life regulated by law are to some extent predetermined by international law. Often international law even inspires national legislation that would otherwise possibly not exist at all. In some areas international law may substitute for domestic law. Global Law, Global Governance, Global Administrative Law and International Public Authority discourses debate whether international law or some modification of international law is likely to make domestic law superfluous in some areas or whether it may rather generate more domestic law. This agora is intended to focus on the role of international law in the domestic sphere. What are the quantitative and qualitative features of the influence of international at the national level? Are the traditional concepts of incorporation/application still adequate? Are states still able to mediate and control the impact of international law? Is domestic social change through international legislation possible? Is it desirable?
Speakers:
Mavluda Sattorova (University of Liverpool), ‘International Investment Treaties and the Promise of Good Governance:
Norm and Institutional Design, Bargaining Strategies, and Domestic Social Change’
David Kosař (Masaryk University, Brno), ‘Domestic Judicial Design by International Human Rights Courts’
Sharon Weill (University of Geneva), ‘The Role of Domestic Courts During Armed Conflicts: Generating Respect for IHL’
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Boldizsár Nagy (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
Law and literature has become an established research interest and has found its way into a number of law school curricula. Obviously both academic fields are primarily about the interpretation of texts. But there are many other overlaps between the two fields, from lawyers turning novelists to novelists pushing legal change. However, international law seems to have been rather on the fringe of these developments. Even so, issues central to international law have been reflected in literature (e.g. terrorism, from Joseph Conrad’s 1907 novel ‘The Secret Agent’ to the 2006 book ‘Terrorist’ by John Updike). Though more rarely, international lawyers have even become protagonists in literature like Frederic Martens in Jan Kross’ 1984 novel
‘Professor Martens’ Departure’, depicting the 19th century international lawyer already torn between apology and utopia. Conversely, international lawyers have taken a closer look at literature and studied the reflection of international law in Shakespeare’s plays like Theodor Meron in his 1994 study on ‘Henry’s Wars and Shakespeare’s Laws’
followed by his 1998 book ‘Bloody Constraint: War and Chivalry in Shakespeare’. Building on this interest of international lawyers in literature, this agora will address general issues: Is there anything that law and literature can learn from each other? Is there a deeper overlap in the methodology? How would a lawyer cope with the prevailing subjectivist approach to art? Can writers adapt to the stringent interpretative canons of (international) lawyers?
To what extent should lawyers draw on the methodology developed in the context of literary studies, e.g. as regards text analysis or interpretation?
Speakers:
Douglas Guilfoyle (University College London), ‘The City and the City: Reflections on the Production of Territoriality, Jurisdiction and International Law’
Ekaterina Yahyaoui (NUI Galway, Irish Center for Human Rights), ‘Engaging International Law and Literature with Kafka, Deleuze and Guattari’
Joshua Paine (Melbourne Law School), ‘Stanley Fish’s
“Interpretive Communities” as a Conceptual Tool for Understanding the Development of International Legal Meaning in a World of Regimes’
Agora: International Law and Linguistics
Conveners: Maksymillian Del Mar (Queen Mary University of London) and Nico Krisch (Institut Barcelona D’Estudis Internacionals)
Philology and linguistics matter per definitionem for the analysis of legal texts, for instance, as regards techniques/canons of interpretation and text analysis. They are of even greater importance to international law as a multilingual discipline. The necessary translation and subsequent interpretation of treaty texts authenticated in
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inability or unwillingness of the negotiating parties to agree upon clear standards. This agora will expand on these issues, addressing questions such as: To what extent can international law draw on the disciplines of philology/linguistics? Should it make increasing use of their methods? Is there a need for more interaction between the disciplines with regard to the education and training of experts/professionals?
Speakers:
Benedikt Pirker (University of Fribourg) and Jennifer Smolka (University of Geneva), ‘The Interpretation of International Law and Pragmatics’
Alexandros X.M. Ntovas (University of Southampton School of Law), ‘Structural Semantics and the International Court of Justice – the Interpretative Concept of Textual Structures as a Supplementary Means in Ascertaining the “Ordinary Meaning” of Treaty Provisions’
Alessandra Asteriti (University of Glasgow), ‘“Three Grades of Evil”: Nabokov and the Perils of Treaty Interpretation’
Agora: International Law and Theology
Conveners: Christine Mengès-Le Pape (Université Toulouse 1 Capitole) and Massimo Iovane (University of Naples)
This is not an agora on international law and religion, focusing on freedom of religion or other human rights aspects of religious beliefs and practices. Rather, this panel will focus on the similarities and differences concerning international law and the academic ‘discipline’ of religion, theology. Questions addressed could be: How are texts becoming part of the ‘canon’? Who decides on the teaching/preaching of the gospel? How is the ‘invisible clergy of international lawyers’ and the ‘visible college of priests’ formed? How do we deal with heretics and schisms?
Did the fact that most founding fathers of international law from Vitoria to Grotius were theologians have an impact on the early formation of the ius gentium? Papers should also address the different or similar ways in which lawyers and theologians deal with custom or with the demands of conscience and morality in their normative orders.
Speakers:
Aleš Weingerl (University of Oxford), ‘The International Community in the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church’
Maurizio Ragazzi (Independent Researcher, former Senior Counsel International Law, World Bank, Washington, D.C.),
‘International Wrongful Acts, Cooperation in Evil, and the Social Dimension of Sin’
Demetrius Kourtis (Attorney & Barrister of Law, Greece),
‘The Notion of Hierarchy in Classical International Law, under the Light of the Founding Fathers’ Magna Opera and the Interplay between the early “Civitas Maxima Gentium”
and the Ideals of the European “Civitas Christiana”…’
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11:00 – 12:30
Parallel Agorae
Agora: International Law and Sports: Competing for Governance?
Conveners: Christian Tams (University of Glasgow) and Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (University of Geneva)
International sports associations, like the International Olympic Committee, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the International Cricket Council or the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, are examples of self-governing transnational institutions managing sports issues in a highly efficient and often rather secretive manner. Allegations of corruption, mismanagement, the lack of sufficient measures against doping and bribery suspicions have raised serious concerns over their self-regulatory governance structures. Furthermore, general questions of due process and fair trial have been raised in recent highly publicized cases of sanctions against athletes or sports clubs. Another question that continuously surfaces in the context of major sporting events, such as the Olympic Games, is to what extent sport has to get involved in politics. In particular, might sport be a means of inducing compliance with rules of international law? This agora will address complex issues regarding the tension between self-regulation and state control, the reach of national criminal and tort law, and the role of sports arbitration and other dispute settlement mechanisms in securing the accountability of international sports associations.
Speakers:
Carmen Pérez González (University Carlos III of Madrid),
‘Public International Law and the Fight Against Doping in Sports: Developments and Challenges’
Lars Schönwald (University of Passau), “‘For the Game. For the World.” – and also for Human Rights? Analyzing Human Rights Obligations of International Sports Associations’
Jernej Letnar Černič (Graduate School of Government and European Studies, Kranj), ‘Fair Trial Guarantees before the Court of Arbitration for Sport’
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Agora: International Law and Film: The Power of Pictures
Conveners: Andreas von Arnauld (Kiel University) and Carlos Esposito (Autónoma University of Madrid)
This agora proposes a discussion on international law as portrayed in films. What can we learn from the popular representation of our discipline in fiction and documentary movies dealing with issues of general international law or its specific fields? A major area of conversation may, of course, be criminal international law, an area with such classics as
‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ (1961). However, more recent movies could considerably expand the discussion, e.g.
‘Argo’ (2012) on the Iran hostage crisis, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
(2012) on the manhunt for Osama Bin Laden, or ‘The
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of films to show a more accurate description of international law and its institutions or even to transform it. Examples include ‘Granito: How to Nail a Dictator’ (2011) on the Mayan genocide or ‘U.N. Me’ (2009) drawing an obscure picture of the organization. The discussion may also include specific advocacy projects on films and human rights, e.g.
dealing with the abolition of the death penalty.
Speakers:
Ruti Teitel (New York Law School) and Aeyal Gross (Tel-Aviv University, Faculty of Law), ‘Transitional Justice on Film:
Telling a Story with a Good Ending?’
Daniel Joyce (University of New South Wales, Sydney) and Gabrielle Simm (Macquarie University, Sydney), ‘Zero Dark Thirty: International Law, Torture and Representation’
Olivier Corten (Université Libre de Bruxelles), ‘A la maison blanche en 24 heures chrono: le Président des Etats-Unis se soucie-t-il du droit international lorsqu’il décide d’une
intervention militaire?’
Agora: International Law and New Technologies Conveners: Daniele Amoroso (University of Naples) and Massimo Iovane (University of Naples)
Rapidly developing new information technologies impact international law in various ways. On the one hand, they offer incredible potential, such as the use of evidence gathering in the field of international criminal law, and they open up new approaches, such as emission checks/controls in international environmental law. On the other hand, new information technologies pose various challenges to international law; for example, cross-boundary data protection/data transfers challenge human rights/privacy rights, while espionage, drone attacks/cyber war/armed robots challenge international humanitarian law and defy basic concepts of international law, such as attribution, state/individual responsibility, etc. This agora will focus on questions including: What are the challenges posed to international law by new technologies? Is there a need for additional regulation? Do new technologies require the development of new standards? To what extent do new technologies imply a necessary re-conceptualization of traditional international law approaches (e.g. as regards attribution/responsibility)? What is the potential of new technologies to usefully contribute to international law?
Speakers:
Lucas Lixinski (University of New South Wales) and Mario Viola de Azevedo Cunha (Rio de Janeiro State University),
‘The Internet and International Law: Sovereignty, Global Commons and the Blurring of the Public/Private Distinction’
Jamie Trinidad (Wolfson College, Cambridge),
‘“Culturonomics” and International Law Research’
Irene Couzigou (University of Aberdeen), ‘The Challenge Posed by Cyber Attacks to the Law on Self-Defense’
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13:30 –
Heinz Engl (Rector, University of Vienna), Heinz Mayer (Dean, Vienna Law School), Helmut Tichy (Legal Adviser, Austrian Foreign Ministry), Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (ESIL President), August Reinisch (ESIL Conference
Organizer)
Joseph H. H. Weiler (European University Institute, Florence), 'Sleepwalking Again, the End of the Pax Americana 1914-2014'
Panel Discussion with Hanspeter Neuhold (University of Vienna), Bruno Simma (former Judge ICJ), Hélène Ruiz Fabri (Université de Paris I – Sorbonne), Anne van Aaken (University of Sankt Gallen) and Marko Milanović (University of Nottingham)
16:00 – 16:30
Coffee break sponsored by Oxford University Press in celebration of the
first year of Oxford Public International Law Vestibule
16:30 – 18:30
Parallel Fora Forum: International Law and Domestic Courts
Convener: Yuval Shany (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
The role of national courts as interpreters and enforcers of international law has been debated for ages. If they are permitted to apply international law as a matter of domestic (constitutional) law, the question arises whether they are sufficiently equipped to apply and develop it adequately.
What are the criteria for such adequacy? Who decides whether they get it right? This forum is meant to address general conceptual issues concerning the role of domestic courts as ‘agents’ of international law creation, application and modification.
Speakers:
Samantha Besson (University of Fribourg), ‘Human Rights’
Adjudication as Transnational Adjudication’
Antonios Tzanakopoulos (University of Oxford),
‘Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law:
Some Basic Principles’
Basak Cali (Koc University Law School), ‘Towards a
“Responsible Courts” Doctrine? The European Court of Human Rights and the Variable Standard of Judicial Review of Domestic Court Judgments’
Osnat Grady Schwartz (Hebrew University of Jerusalem),
‘The Engagement of Israel’s Supreme Court with International Law’
Great Ceremonial Hall
Forum: International Law, Cultural Heritage and the Arts
Conveners: Kerstin Odendahl (Kiel University) and Mary Footer (University of Nottingham)
The topic of international law, cultural heritage and the arts
Small Ceremonial Hall
and in the sense of natural heritage and cultural landscape.
Equally, the term may be applied to all forms of tangible and intangible aspects of culture that involve the customs and practices of traditional and indigenous cultures. This panel is deliberately broad in its scope as it seeks to link substantive and enforcement elements of private and public international law with a wide range of interests and themes in cultural heritage and the arts. The focus of this panel may include: the restitution of cultural assets arising from theft or illicit excavations, including stolen works of art and looted antiquities; the illicit traffic and trade of cultural property from land and/or underwater sites; litigation and arbitration of disputes over ownership of works of art and antiquities, including issues of state immunity; the preservation of historic and world heritage sites; the protection of cultural property in armed conflict and its restitution following looting during armed conflict; museum law; and underwater archaeology and cultural heritage more generally. It could also focus on the protection of the built and natural heritage (including cultural landscapes).
Speakers:
Sarah Dromgoole (University of Nottingham), ‘International Law and Underwater Cultural Heritage: The Challenge of Meeting Heritage Preservation Objectives Within the Framework of the Law of the Sea’
Roger O’Keefe (University College London), ‘The Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict: Beyond IHL’
Ana Vrdoljak (Sydney University of Technology),
‘International Law, Human Rights and the Illicit Traffic of Cultural Objects’
Janet Blake (University of Shahid Beheshti Teheran),
‘Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage – New Paradigm or Unfinished Business? An Example of How International Law Responds to Inter-disciplinary Topics and New Challenges’
“Heuriger Fuhrgassl Huber” Dinner Reception sponsored by the Mayor of Vienna and EJIL
Dinner Reception sponsored by the Mayor of Vienna and the European Journal of International Law
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09:00 Breakfast Meeting ESIL Board meets new ESIL members Juridicum Top Floor 09:00 -
18:00 Book Exhibitor's Space Juridicum
Top Floor
Conveners: Bardo Fassbender (University of Sankt Gallen) and Anne Peters (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg)
International law has developed a distinctively historical and historiographic turn in the last 15 years, rediscovering a historical approach to the study of international law and international lawyers which had largely faded from view since 1945. In part it has been revitalized by a renewed preoccupation with understanding the political and normative foundations of international law, its relationship with empire and colonialism, and as part of the search for clues about the origins of the present. But it has also been revitalized by the resurgence of intellectual history, postcolonial history and international history, which are reinvigorating the study of ‘classical’ figures in international political and legal thought, and trying to understand the origins of the political, social and economic foundations of the contemporary international legal order. Along with groundbreaking work in the history of international law in general, recent years have seen new studies in the history of the laws of war, renovations of the legal thought of classical figures such as Gentili and Vattel, and new histories of international institutions such as the League of Nations. This agora will bring together intellectual historians, historians of law and historians of international thought to consider the ways in which new research into the history of international law is changing our understanding of past and present.
Speakers:
Benjamin Brockman-Hawe (University of North Dakota) and R. John Pritchard (CATS College Canterbury), ‘International Criminal Law in the Age of Late Imperialism and Early Humanitarian Interventionism’
Wui Ling Cheah (National University of Singapore), ‘A Critical Assessment of the “Historical Turn” in International Criminal Law’
W.A.M. (Mieke) van der Linden (Tilburg University), ‘The Inextricable Connection between Historical Consciousness and International Law: New Imperialism, the International Court of Justice and Its Interpretation of the Inter-temporal Rule’
Agora: International Law and Political Science: The Need to Learn from Each Other
Conveners: Barbara Delcourt (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and Lauri Mälksoo (University of Tartu)
Political science has rediscovered international law – either through the constructivist turn in international relations thought, rational choice modeling, or more recently through the attempt to develop data-driven empirical inquiries into the ways in which international law ‘works’ in shaping state and non-state behaviour. The result has been a scholarly
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decisions impact upon those decisions. These studies, both in the methodologies and in their outcome, raise important questions about how we think about the impact of law on international politics, what qualifies as an impact, and whether we can use this knowledge to better design international legal regimes and institutions. It also challenges some important self-understandings of international lawyers as to the significance and relevance of norms and their interpretation. This agora will bring together political scientists and lawyers to consider both how this discipline understands international law, and how legal science might shape the methods of political science.
Speakers:
Timothy Meyer (University of Georgia School of Law),
‘Shifting Sands: Global Power and the Shape of International Legal Cooperation’
Joris Larik (The Hague Institute for Global Justice/KU Leuven, Centre for Global Governance Studies), ‘The
Constitutional Temptation of the Constructivist: Entrenched
“World Views”, the International (Legal) Order and IR Theory’
Emmanuel De Groof (European University Institute,
Florence and NYU Visiting doctoral researcher), ‘Diplomatic coalitions indirectly imposing regime change: any law in this jungle?’
Agora: International Law and the Human Sciences:
Anthropology and Sociology
Convener: Nehal Bhuta (European University Institute, Florence)
The last decade has seen anthropologists and sociologists turn their attention to the study of international law and international institutions, mostly in the field of human rights, but increasingly in the areas of international criminal law, international humanitarian law and international investment. The results have been varied, but are sometimes startling and illuminating. Turning international law and international lawyers into objects of sociological and anthropological analysis promises a new lens through which to address some perennial questions about international law: how do global legal norms develop legitimacy? How do they travel between national and international realms? How do international legal institutions socialize global actors and generate structures of social action at the international level? How does the normativity generated by international legal norms in human rights and international criminal law interact with national and local contexts? What forms of social power does it generate, and what kinds of power and knowledge does it marginalize?
These are the questions that anthropological and sociological studies of international law can help address.
They can also help to better understand the multiple ways in which international law is being transformed in this epoch of ‘Global Law’, a development that systematically challenges many of the key distinctions and categories upon
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international law and international institutions and place them in discussion with international lawyers.
Speakers:
Jessie Hohmann (Queen Mary University of London), ‘The Material Culture of International Law: An Investigation of International Law’s Preoccupations through Objects’
Michelle Burgis-Kasthala (Edinburgh Law School, University
Michelle Burgis-Kasthala (Edinburgh Law School, University