Chapter 7 examines how the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt, AA) strategically engaged with scholarly international law between 1920 and 1925 to challenge the post-Versailles international order. Drawing on extensive archival research, it explores how the AA mobilized legal scholars, subsidized international law publications and institutes, and sought to exploit the legal framework established by the League of Nations as a double-edged sword – originally designed to serve the Entente, yet also capable of inflicting damage on its wielder. The study demonstrates that the AA covertly collaborated with international law scholars as informants and agents and actively sought to influence international legal discourse – as seen, for example, in the case of the Hague Academy of International Law. It highlights the AA’s increasing sophistication in navigating within the newly formed Versailles system of international law. Ultimately, the study reveals a deeply entangled relationship between diplomacy and academia, suggesting that international law was not merely a normative framework but an instrument of statecraft in German foreign policy, weaponized in the service of national interests under the guise of academic independence.

Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth was completed which is led by United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) under the umbrella of Faith-Based Organizations and is contributed by Muslim thought leaders worldwide. The covenant reminds that responsibility of humanity, especially Muslim communities, is on climate change and is to project natural resources and biological variety of world’s common heritage. Moreover, the covenant emphasizes that it is a sacred aim that humanity must respect the natural balance in accordance with values that establish the fundamental of Islam.

This chapter focuses on the present and potential uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in Turkey's court system, including non-judicial tasks. Although Türkiye lacks sophisticated AI applications in a strict technical sense, the National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP) has modernised judicial processes by digitising legal proceedings. While this system enhances accessibility and efficiency, the Turkish Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation are exploring more advanced AI models. These courts are leveraging AI for tasks such as case classification, decision support, and reducing backlog.

Islamic legal scholarship is split on the permissibility of corporate personhood. While some scholars advocate unequivocal permissibility, others are critical because Islamic law prohibits limited liability in most contracts. The religion also regards the human being as the only subject of Divine command. Despite their differences, most jurists agree that the corporate form is an effective tool to mobilize large amounts of capital. However, only one scholar, Ahmad Ali Abdullah addresses the exploitative impact corporations have on human rights and the environment. In this context, I argue that we should address the issue of corporate personhood from a maqasid framework. The preservation and protection of wealth is a legitimate purpose of Islamic law. However, the preservation and protection of life is a higher purpose in the hierarchy. The preservation of life is directly linked to the preservation of the earth. While recognizing the corporate form’s utility, I advocate creating alternative business models that lead to more sustainable development.

This chapter explores the comprehensive Islamic legal and ethical framework for environmental protection and sustainable development. Rooted in the principles of divine unity (Tawhid) and stewardship, Islamic law presents a holistic approach to natural resource management that emphasizes the intrinsic connection between human responsibility and environmental preservation. The text meticulously analyzes Islamic jurisprudential principles governing the protection of fundamental natural resources including water, air, land, animals, and plants.

The research demonstrates that Islamic environmental ethics transcend mere conservation, viewing environmental protection as a spiritual and moral obligation. Key principles include the prohibition of waste, the concept of trust (amanah), and the fundamental right of all creatures to benefit from natural resources. The study highlights how Islamic law prioritizes public interest, ecological balance, and the prevention of harm through sophisticated legal mechanisms.

By examining Quranic injunctions, Prophetic traditions, and Islamic juristic principles, the work provides a nuanced understanding of how Islamic law conceptualizes humanity’s relationship with the natural world. It presents a robust framework for environmental management that balances human needs with ecological sustainability, offering a distinctive perspective on environmental protection rooted in religious ethics and spiritual responsibility.

Impartiality, broadly meaning the absence of bias and according equal treatment before the law, is a foundational element of judicial decision-making around the world. In this chapter, we consider how the goal of judicial impartiality may be either enhanced and supported or undermined by the use of artificial intelligence. Key developments in legal AI include innovations directed toward courts and decision- makers. These may be process-driven – for example, triaging or decision-supporting systems; in the case of pre-trial processes, judges may need to manage technology-facilitated document discovery. AI systems may also be involved in the production of evidence submitted to the court. Finally, courts and judges themselves may be the subjects of AI tools, such as those which identify patterns in decision-making. As this chapter explores, these different uses all have implications for the way that judicial impartiality is enacted and tested.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is influencing many fields around the world, including court practice and procedure. This chapter focuses on AI and the courts in Australia and New Zealand, examining both criminal and civil trial applications. The first section discusses generative AI, technology-assisted review, and automated decision- making; and the second considers the influence of AI on criminal cases, with a focus on child protection and sentencing. AI has many useful applications in this context, however, it should be carefully regulated. In relation to the development of policy and guidelines on AI, Australia and New Zealand courts are only beginning their implementation and may not be as advanced as other jurisdictions, but there is increasing recognition in government and by legal regulatory bodies, and this will be an area of significant policy development over the next decade.

One of the most significant innovations made by the League of Nations was its new disciplinary mechanism against violators of international peace: the instrument of economic sanctions. Instead of going to war to prevent more war, the League would summon the combined material force of its members to exert strong pressure against aggressors. But to implement this procedure, codified in the Covenant’s Article 16, a number of longstanding international legal norms had to be challenged and modified. This chapter examines the legal revolution constituted by the introduction of sanctions by examining debates surrounding C.241, a key League study about the legality of blockade, in 1927. It shows that justifying the use of crippling blockade-style pressure outside of war destabilized the existing laws of war and peace and was more controversial than is usually assumed.

This chapter explores the implications of AI for human judges through the lens of judicial professional competence. It draws on Australasian experience to make two universal arguments: to include competence on the front bench of judicial regulatory values, and to embed digital literacy in the definition and pursuit of judicial competence. There is a deep-rooted, but increasingly problematic, assumption in common law jurisdictions that judges emerge ready-made from the ranks of senior lawyers. The breadth and complexity of potential judicial engagement with AI poses a profound challenge to this assumption. Even in ‘career’ judiciaries, traditional markers of competence for judicial work do not reliably translate to competence for AI. While other dimensions of modern judicial competence, like cross-cultural skills, may be seen to raise similar concerns, AI-related risks and opportunities are proving unique in the speed at which they emerge and evolve. There is an urgent need for more open discussion about equipping future (and current) judicial cohorts to meet this challenge.