In its more
than 50 years of existence, the European Court of Justice has had
ample opportunity to pronounce on important questions of public
international law including the relationship between international
and European law, recognition, State succession, the law of
treaties, jurisdiction, the law of the sea, international
environmental law, human rights, international economic law,
powers of the Security Council, sanctions and international
responsibility. An even richer source of information on public
international law are the Opinions of the Advocates General which
the Court has followed in many of its decisions. These Opinions
often contain an extensive survey of the relevant State practice
on points of customary international law and an almost
textbook-like treatment of the international legal questions
involved. So far, these decisions and opinions have mainly been
looked at from a European law perspective, the public
international law aspects of the cases often being somewhat
‘hidden’ in the dozens or sometimes hundreds of pages of the
judgements and opinions.
In my research I examine the application, interpretation and
development of public international law by the European Court of
Justice and the Advocates General. I ask whether there is a
specific European view of public international law and, if so, to
what extent this view has influenced public international law in
general. I seek to provide a representative survey of the European
contribution to the subsidiary means for the determination of
rules of public international law in the sense of Article 38(1)(d)
of the Statute of the International Court of Justice.
publications in preparation:
The Jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice in Matters of
International Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, forthcoming)
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