This book attempts to establish how courts of general jurisdiction differ from specialized human rights courts in their approach to the implementation and development of international human rights. Why do courts of general jurisdiction face particular problems in relation to the application of international human rights law and why, in other cases, are they better placed than specialized human rights courts to act as guardians of international human rights? At the international level, this volume focusses on the International Court of Justice and courts of regional economic integration organizations in Europe, Latin America and Africa. With regard to the judicial implementation of international human rights and human rights decisions at the domestic level, the contributions analyze the requirements set by human rights treaties and offer a series of country studies on the practice of domestic courts in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. This book follows up on research undertaken by the International Human Rights Law Committee of the International Law Association. It includes the final Committee report as well as contributions by committee members and external experts.

For the first time, an English-written book collects the most salient opinions of Judge Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque (European Court of Human Rights).

The jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice generally demonstrates that no rule of international law can be interpreted and applied without regard to its innate values and the basic principles of human rights. Through its case-law the ICJ has made immense contributions to the development of human rights law, and in so doing continues to provide solutions to mounting international problems, such as terrorism and unilateral use of force. Part I of the book argues that the legislative spirit of contemporary international law lies in the doctrine of human rights and that the spirit of human rights doctrine lies in the principle of human dignity. Furthermore it argues that the processes of international legislation and international adjudication are inseparable, and that there is no norm of international law which does not intertwine the fundamental principle of human dignity with human rights doctrine. Hence human rights law is more a school of law than merely a normative branch of international law, and the ICJ's willingness to engage in the development of human rights law depends upon which judicial ideology its judges subscribe to.In order to evaluate how this human rights spirit is manifested, or occasionally not manifested, through the vast jurisprudence of the ICJ, Parts II and III critically examine the Court's principal contentious and advisory cases in which it has treated human rights questions. The legal reasoning of the Court and the opinions appended to its decisions by its individual judges are analysed in light of the principle of human dignity and the doctrine of human rights.

International human rights law has emerged as an academic subject in its own right, separate from, but still related to international law. This book explains the distinctive nature of this discipline by examining the influence of the idea of human rights on general international law. Rather than make use of a particular moral philosophy or political theory, it explains human rights by examining the way the term is deployed in legal practice, on the understanding that words are given meaning through their use. Relying on complexity theory to make sense of the legal practice of the United Nations, the core human rights treaties, and customary international law, the work demonstrates the emergence of the moral concept of human rights as a fact of the social world. It reveals the dynamic nature of this concept, and the influence of the idea on the legal practice, a fact that explains the fragmentation of international law and special nature of international human rights law.

In spite of the Geneva and The Hague Conventions of the late 19th century, the Twentieth Century has been a century of massacres and genocides: the massacres due to European colonialism, two World Wars, the Holocaust, the Armenian and the Rwanda genocides, the casualties caused by the Communist utopia in the USSR, China and Cambodia, and numerous civil wars. Most of the leaders mainly responsible for these massacres and genocides have enjoyed impunity. However, there is a slow popular awakening to the fact that leaders should be accountable for their crimes. A human rights regime was created after World War II, international criminal law has taken root with the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, and, in the 1990's with the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. In 1998, the Statute for an International Criminal Court was adopted, while the arrest of former dictator Pinochet in London has created both a political storm and a judiciary advance. The "Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction" have been publicized in an effort to strengthen the application of international law in national legal systems. In Cambodia and Sierra Leone, mixed national/international courts are being set up to try criminal leaders. This unique volume offers the reader an overview of the various models which are emerging to ensure that criminal leaders and their collaborators are made accountable for their schemes and actions, and clearly illustrates how national, international and mixed national/international tribunals are slowly eroding the impunity of criminal leaders.

Does gender make a difference to the way the judiciary works and should work? Or is gender-blindness a built-in prerequisite of judicial objectivity? If gender does make a difference, how might this be defined? These are the key questions posed in this collection of essays, by some 30 authors from the following countries; Argentina, Cambodia, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa, Switzerland, Syria and the United States. The contributions draw on various theoretical approaches, including gender, feminist and sociological theories. The book's pressing topicality is underlined by the fact that well into the modern era male opposition to women's admission to, and progress within, the judicial profession has been largely based on the argument that their very gender programmes women to show empathy, partiality and gendered prejudice - in short essential qualities running directly counter to the need for judicial objectivity. It took until the last century for women to begin to break down such seemingly insurmountable barriers. And even now, there are a number of countries where even this first step is still waiting to happen. In all of them, there remains a more or less pronounced glass ceiling to women's judicial careers.

How should state-sponsored atrocities be judged and remembered? This controversial question animates contemporary debates on transitional justice and reconciliation. This book reconsiders the legacies of two institutions that transformed the theory and practice of transitional justice. Whereas the Nuremberg Trials exemplified the promise of legalism and international criminal justice, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission promoted restorative justice and truth commissions. Leebaw argues that the two frameworks share a common problem: both rely on criminal justice strategies to investigate experiences of individual victims and perpetrators, which undermines their critical role as responses to systematic atrocities. Drawing on the work of influential transitional justice institutions and thinkers such as Judith Shklar, Hannah Arendt, José Zalaquett and Desmond Tutu, Leebaw offers a new approach to thinking about the critical role of transitional justice – one that emphasizes the importance of political judgment and investigations that examine complicity in, and resistance to, systematic atrocities.

Legal Visions of the 21st Century honours Judge Christopher Weeramantry by carefully culling a range of contributions to explore the broad themes that have been the subject of Judge Weeramantry s career. Judge Weeramantry has written distinguished books on Roman Dutch Law, Jurisprudence, the relationship between Law and Science, International Law and International Human Rights Law. The coverage of Legal Visions of the 21st Century includes: - Jurisprudence and Comparative Law; - Human Rights and Bioethics; - Judging and the Judiciary; - fascinating aspects of general International Law and the International Court of Justice; and - 'appreciations' - the final selection of the volume, which conveys an idea of the role Judge Weeramantry played in the offices he held prior to his appointment to the International Court of Justice. In the manner of a true legal discussion, the essays reflect a variety of opinions, including those that oppose the views of the honoree. Anyone interested in current intellectual challenges in international law will want to read and re-read every section of this compelling work.

An interdisciplinary introduction to international judges and their work

Collecting together 47 essays from colleagues and friends of Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, this book commemorates his work and contribution to law and legal scholarship, including his role as a judge of the UK Supreme Court and his interests in Roman law, Scots law, and legal history.