Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Table of treaties
- Table of MOUs
- Table of cases
- Glossary of legal terms
- List of abbreviations
- 1 International law
- 2 States and recognition
- 3 Territory
- 4 Jurisdiction
- 5 The law of treaties
- 6 Diplomatic privileges and immunities
- 7 State immunity
- 8 Nationality, aliens and refugees
- 9 International organisations
- 10 The United Nations, including the use of force
- 11 Human rights
- 12 The law of armed conflict (international humanitarian law)
- 13 International criminal law
- 14 Terrorism
- 15 The law of the sea
- 16 International environmental law
- 17 International civil aviation
- 18 Special regimes
- 19 International economic law
- 20 Succession of states
- 21 State responsibility
- 22 Settlement of disputes
- 23 The European Union
- Index
22 - Settlement of disputes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Table of treaties
- Table of MOUs
- Table of cases
- Glossary of legal terms
- List of abbreviations
- 1 International law
- 2 States and recognition
- 3 Territory
- 4 Jurisdiction
- 5 The law of treaties
- 6 Diplomatic privileges and immunities
- 7 State immunity
- 8 Nationality, aliens and refugees
- 9 International organisations
- 10 The United Nations, including the use of force
- 11 Human rights
- 12 The law of armed conflict (international humanitarian law)
- 13 International criminal law
- 14 Terrorism
- 15 The law of the sea
- 16 International environmental law
- 17 International civil aviation
- 18 Special regimes
- 19 International economic law
- 20 Succession of states
- 21 State responsibility
- 22 Settlement of disputes
- 23 The European Union
- Index
Summary
the law's delay …
Collier and Lowe, The Settlement of Disputes in International Law, Oxford, 1999
Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law, 6th edn, Oxford, 2003, pp. 671–94
Merrills, International Dispute Settlement, 3rd edn, Cambridge, 1998
Handbook on the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes between States, UN, New York, 1992
Any respectable domestic legal system has a hierarchy of tribunals ending with a final court of appeal. International law has no such system. Since each state is sovereign, it cannot be required to submit to the jurisdiction of an international tribunal (which term includes international courts) unless it has consented to its jurisdiction. And there is no hierarchy of tribunals, but rather an unsystematic patchwork. Even though judgments of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are very influential, it is not at the apex of the international legal system. In this chapter, we look at some international tribunals. (See p. 246 above for the European Court of Human Rights, p. 273 above for international criminal tribunals, p. 382 above for the World Trade Organization and p. 475 below for the European Court of Justice.)
Many disputes are settled quickly and informally; others can take many years to resolve; some are never resolved; and with some it is better to manage them than attempt a resolution. A dispute is usually between only two parties. There is no one method of dispute settlement, or even one that is generally used.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Handbook of International Law , pp. 430 - 465Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005