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Dr Devika Hovell CKK 7.06

This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time), MSc in Human Rights and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Some prior knowledge of international law is useful but not essential.

This course has a limited number of places and demand is typically high. This may mean that you’re not able to get a place on this course.

Some prior knowledge of international law is useful but not essential.

At both international and domestic levels, international disputes are increasingly becoming the subject of judicial determination. In this course, we examine key courts and tribunals operating on the world stage, including the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the European Court of Human Rights, investment treaty arbitration and the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. The course provides the opportunity to consider the theory, politics and practical difficulties of international dispute resolution in these courts and tribunals.  The course begins with a focus on the International Court of Justice, which is currently experiencing a surge in activity. We will examine the history, structure and jurisdiction of the Court before turning to questions arising with provisional measures, contentious cases and advisory opinions. The second half of the course examines a variety of other international courts and tribunals, such as the International Criminal Court, the European Court of Human Rights the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and investment treaty arbitration.  There will be an opportunity to hear from guest speakers working in these different practice areas.

20 hours of lectures in the Autumn term. 2 hours of lectures in the Spring term.

There will be a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn term.

1500 word formative essay.

Reading lists will be provided for each week’s seminar on Moodle. 

Indicative reading includes Karen Alter, The New Terrain of International Law: Courts, Politics, Rights (2014 Princeton); Gleider Hernández, The International Court of Justice and the Judicial Function (2014 OUP); Yuval Shany, ‘No Longer a Weak Department of Power? Reflections on the Emergence of a New International Judiciary’ (2009) 20(1) European Journal of International Law 73; Frederic Megret and Marika Giles Samson, ‘Holding the Line on Complementarity in Libya: the Case for Tolerating Flawed Domestic Trials’ (2013) 11 Journal of International Criminal Justice 571.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes) in the spring exam period.