The New World of International Law

Introduction

International law was once thought to be a body of rules of conduct and agreements of varying degrees of formality, between States, all to be enforced (if at all) by States themselves.

However, with the negotiation of various international human rights treaties that accorded rights of complaint to natural persons, and more recently, the creation of institutions such as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and bilateral investment treaties that have conferred rights of action upon private persons, in recent decades international law has begun to undergo fundamental and accelerating change, the full effects of which are only now being grasped. Put simply, States have agreed to abandon their once exclusive monopoly over international dispute settlement for specified subject matters. The timing, incidence, and conduct of international dispute settlement began to change once private persons began to accept States’ offers to submit to binding arbitration.

This seminar described the dynamics of a dispute settlement system that does not fall within the exclusive control of States. It compared and contrasted State-to-State dispute settlement with investor-State dispute settlement, in an attempt to demonstrate the significance of this development in international law. The seminar was attended by foreign policy and investment officials, international lawyers, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, and academia and students.

About the Speaker

J Christopher Thomas, QC, is a renowned lawyer and Chartered Arbitrator who has practiced in the field of international trade and commercial law with an emphasis on trade and investment regulation and dispute settlement.