Researchers' Activities

About the lecture

Against the ever increasing resort to international courts and tribunals in their multifarious configurations, the lecture addresses commonalities and differences between them. Based on the characterizing features of their discernible mandate, three major adjudicative clusters are portrayed. Namely, a) traditional inter-state and investor-state litigation; b) international human rights litigation; c) international criminal litigation. The law of international adjudication is divided up between procedural law stricto sensu – intended as the set of rules strictly governing the conduct of proceedings –, and the body of principles and tenets which provide for the contents and boundaries of the powers and duties concerning the adjudicative decision-making process – i.e., non- liquet, ne ultra/ne infra petita, jura novit curia.  While the commonalities of strictly procedural law throughout different forms of international adjudication are fall well into chartered territory, the lecture will focus on the different modulations of the latter set of principles in relation to each of the three mentioned adjudicative contexts.

About the speakers

Professor Attila Tanzi

Attila M. Tanzi is Chair of International Law at the University of Bologna and Associate Member of 3VB Chambers. His recent Concise Introduction to International Law (2019) and treaties on international law in Italian (6th ed. 2019), testify to his characterisation as a PIL generalist. His fields of specialization include international procedural law, environmental law, investment law, the law of the sea, jurisdictional immunities, and the law of international organisations.

A Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Conciliator at the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration Chairman of the Implementation Committee of the of the UNECE 1992 Convention on Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. He has been Visiting Professor at Queen Mary University of London, Université Paris II-Panthéon Assas, University of Vienna and Université Paris Nanterre and formerly visiting fellow, inter alia, at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law. He is going to give a special course at The Hague Academy of International Law on The Principle Iura Novit Curia in International Judicial and Arbitral Proceedings next summer. He serves as Counsel in inter-state litigation and as an arbitrator in investor-states disputes.

Dr Nilüfer Oral

Nilüfer Oral is Director of the Centre of International Law (CIL) at the National University of Singapore and is a member of the law faculty at Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey. She is member of the UN International Law Commission and Co-chair of the Study Group on Sea-level rise in relation to international law. She served as climate change negotiator for the Turkish Ministry (2009 – 2016). She has also appeared before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Nilufer Oral is a Distinguished Fellow of the Law of the Sea Institute at Berkeley Law (University of California Law Berkeley); Senior Fellow of the National University of Singapore Law School; and Honorary Research Fellow at University of Dundee. She is a member of the IUCN-WCEL Steering Committee. She was elected to the IUCN Council 2012-2016 and served as the Co-chair of the WCEL Specialist Group on Oceans, Coasts and Coral Reefs. Dr. Oral is the series editor for the International Straits of the World publications (Brill); member of the Board of Editors of the European Society of International Law Series; Board of Editors of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law; Associate Editor of the Research Perspectives in the Law of the Sea (Brill); Board of Advisors for the International Law Studies Journal and International Advisory Board, and Chinese Journal of Environmental Law (Brill). She has published numerous articles edited several books, and has spoken at many international conferences.

About the Essex Public International Law Lecture Series

The Essex Public International Law lecture series is founded, hosted and co-chaired by Dr Meagan Wong and Dr Emily Jones based in the School of Law. This is a weekly lecture series featuring judges of international courts and tribunals, leading academics, and practitioners of international law from governmental service, international organizations, and private practice from across the globe. The series prides itself on building on two important intellectual traditions of international law: formalism and international legal practice, and international legal theory including postcolonial and feminist perspectives.