This book provides an ideal introduction to the fundamentals of international investment law and dispute settlement for students or practitioners. It combines a systematic analytical study of the texts and principles underlying investment law with a jurisprudential analysis of the case law arising in international tribunals.

This book provides an ideal introduction to the fundamentals of international investment law and dispute settlement for students, scholars, and practitioners. It combines a systematic analytical study of the texts and principles underlying investment law with a jurisprudential analysis of the case law arising in international tribunals.

'...This book [...] goes beyond stating what the law is and focuses on controversies occurring within this area of the law... an excellent introduction to this complex area of international law for newcomers to the subject' Kate Miles, Australian International Law Journal The updated edition of this acclaimed book offers a critical overview of the law of foreign investment, incorporating a thorough analysis of the principles and standards of treatment available to foreign investors in international law. It is authoritative and multi-layered, offering an analysis of the key issues and an insightful assessment of recent trends in the case law, from both developed and developing country perspectives. A major feature of the book is that it deals with the tension between the law of foreign investment and other competing principles of international law. In doing so, it proposes ways of achieving a balance between these principles and the need to protect the legitimate rights and expectations of foreign investors on the one hand, and the need not to restrict unduly the right of host governments to implement their public policy on the other, including the protection of the environment and human rights, and the promotion of social and economic justice within the host country. Many of the pioneering ideas that were advanced in the first edition of this book in 2008 have been taken up by governments and international organisations in their attempts to reform the investor-State dispute settlement mechanism and strike a balance between different competing principles in developing international investment law. Accordingly, this fourth edition captures the essence of the ongoing multiple reform processes -either planned or envisaged – currently underway.

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.

This important book examines the development of soft law instruments in international investment law and the feasibility of a 'codification' of the present state of this field of international economic law. It draws together the views of international experts on the use of soft law in international law generally and in discrete fields such as WTO, commercial, and environmental law. The book assesses whether investment law has sufficiently coalesced over the last 50 years to be 'codified' and focuses particularly on topical issues such as most-favoured-nation treatment and expropriation. This timely book will appeal to academics interested in the development of international law and legal theory, to those working in investment law, Government investment treaty negotiators and arbitration practitioners.

We are in the presence of a recent scientific paper, an analysis prepared with professionalism, which deals with a topic of great relevance in the inter-human and inter-state relations that contemporaneity has brought to today's society. The paper aims to know the international law of investment as a require to understand the connection between international investment and the science of law, and can be used as a subject (course) of university study. Mrs. Cristina Popa Tache, PhD., presented several proposals aimed at contributing to the regulation of the legal regime of foreign investment and concluded that it can be seen that the legal regime of foreign investment can evolve only through cooperation in this area of all specialists to strengthen legislative, economic and social cohesion, by creating a comprehensive legislative framework, as well as by promoting appropriate government policies. I would like to accentuate once again the special value of this research work in the international context of a topic full of interest in current international relations. Recommending the reading of a wide circle of people interested in the field of international foreign investment law, I am convinced that those who know this monograph will considerably enrich their information in view of understanding a very current and useful phenomenon for this field of information and legal culture. PhD. Ianfred Silberstein

Increasing and intensified cross-border economic exchange such as trade and investment is an important feature of globalization. In the past, a distinction could be made between capital importing and exporting countries, or host and home countries for foreign direct investment (FDI). Due to globalization, FDI is presently made by and in both developed and developing countries. Differences in political, economic and legal systems and culture are no longer obstacles for FDI, and to varying degrees the economic development of almost all countries is closely linked with the inflow of FDI. This book conducts critical assessments of aspects of current international law on FDI, focusing on cases decided by the tribunals of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and other tribunals as well as decisions of annulment ad hoc committees of the ICSID. In examining such cases, Guiguo Wang takes into account the Chinese culture and China’s practice in the related areas. The book explores topics including: the development and trend of international investment law; unilateral, bilateral and multilateral mechanisms for encouraging and protecting FDIs; determination of qualified investors and investments and consent as conditions for protection; relative and absolute standards of treatment; determination of expropriation in practice; assessment of compensation for expropriation; difficulties in enforcing investment arbitral awards; and alternatives for improving the existing system. The book will be of great use and interest to scholars, practitioners and students of international investment law and international economic law, Asian law, and Chinese studies.

Written by leading experts in the field, this collection offers a critical and comparative analysis of the existing case law on international investment law. The book makes a topical contribution to the existing literature, showing most notably that: (1) international investment law has a longer history than that generally considered and that this history is fundamental to understanding its development; (2) international investment law is crafted today by a large number of actors. These include not only investment arbitrators, but also a variety of international and national courts and tribunals; and (3) the literature and case law in languages other than English and from different legal cultures is essential to grasp the essence of the development of the topic. This book brings together more than 40 experts from different countries and legal traditions and combines conceptual analysis and archival investigation of landmark case law to provide the reader with a fresh and innovative understanding of the breadth of international investment law.

International investment law is a complex and dynamic field. Yet, the implications of its history are under explored. Kate Miles examines the historical evolution of international investment law, assessing its origins in the commercial and political expansionism of dominant states during the seventeenth to early twentieth centuries and the continued resonance of those origins within modern foreign investment protection law. In particular, the exploration of the activities of the Dutch East India Company, Grotius' treatises, and pre-World War II international investment disputes provides insight into current controversies surrounding the interplay of public and private interests, the systemic design of investor-state arbitration, the substantive focus of principles, and the treatment of environmental issues within international investment law. In adopting such an approach, this book provides a fresh conceptual framework through which contemporary issues can be examined and creates new understandings of those controversies.

This book examines the issue of foreign investor misconduct in modern international investment law, focusing on the approach that international investment law as it currently operates has developed towards foreign investor misconduct. The term ‘misconduct’ is not a legal notion, but is used to describe a certain phenomenon, namely, a group/class of actions. This term is convenient since it makes it possible to introduce and describe the phenomenon as such, without a division into concrete types of conduct, like ‘abuse of process’, ‘violation of national law’, ‘corruption’, ‘investment contrary to international norms and standards’, etc. The term ‘misconduct’ is intended to embrace various kinds of conduct on the part of foreign investors that the system of international investment law does not accept – such as that which it regards as illegal, against public policy, or otherwise inappropriate – and triggers legal consequences. Rarely, however, does international investment law clearly articulate what it considers unacceptable investor conduct, and certainly not in any systematic fashion. As such, this book addresses the following questions: What types of investors’ conduct are legally unacceptable? What mechanisms are available to deal with unacceptable investors’ conduct, and what are the legal consequences?