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
19 - International economic law
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 forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
Lowenfeld, International Economic Law, Oxford, 2003
Sornarajah, The International Law of Foreign Investment, 2nd edn, Cambridge, 2004
Collier and Lowe, The Settlement of Disputes in International Law, Oxford, 1999
International economic law is a convenient term to cover mainly the multitude of bilateral and multilateral treaties made since the Second World War on trade, commerce and investment. That does not mean that it is a new subject. There are numerous bilateral treaties on trade from earlier centuries, an Anglo/Portuguese treaty of 1353 providing for mercantile intercourse. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there were many treaties on trade, customs, establishment and navigation. The last fifty years has seen important multilateral treaty-making in these areas and the conclusion of numerous bilateral investment treaties (BITs). A detailed description of the various new international and regional economic organisations is beyond the scope of this chapter. One can give only a brief overview of the subject, principally BITs and the WTO and similar organisations, concentrating more on the settlement of economic disputes. Dispute settlement in general is dealt with in Chapter 22 below.
Most countries that achieved their independence after the Second World War were developing, and most remain so. During the colonial era, the imperial powers controlled trade and investment between their colonies and themselves and third states. With independence, the new states could have more control over trade and the activities of foreign investors, but they also needed to encourage foreign investment.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Handbook of International Law , pp. 372 - 389Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005