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The Advancement of International Law assembles 11 articles and book chapters by Charles Leben, emeritus professor of law at the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), that were first published between 1989 and 2006. With two exceptions, they appeared in French and are presented here in translation for the first time to make them accessible to a larger academic audience. The essays are grouped into three parts: the first part revolves around several theoretical issues within the realm of international investment protection; the around groups five essays under the rubric of advances in the theoretical analysis of international law and features, in particular, engagements with the jurisprudence of Hans Kelsen; the third part deals with select issues concerning the European Union and the European conception of human rights.A recurrent concern in these essays is the notion, as indicated by the book's title, of the advancement of international law which, in Leben's view, requires going beyond (or at least avoiding) the anarchic system (at 216) and which he defines at one point as consisting centrally in establishing treaty-based regimes allowing direct action by individuals against states, an advance first made in the area of human rights, then in the area of investment protection (at 52). It is from the latter field that Leben draws most of his empirical examples. In order to show that the developments ushered in by the growth of foreign direct investment, on the one hand, and its legal regulation, contractually and through bilateral investment treaties, on the other, mark genuine advancement of international law along these lines, Leben pursues two arguments in particular: first, he argues that state contracts that is, contracts between a state acting as the sovereign and a private entity are international legal acts governed by international law. Secondly, Leben espouses the view. |
