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Justice in International Economic Law? From the ‘International Law among States’ to ‘International Integration law’ and ‘Constitutional Law’
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1725-6739
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EUI LAW; 2006/46
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PETERSMANN, Ernst-Ulrich, Justice in International Economic Law? From the ‘International Law among States’ to ‘International Integration law’ and ‘Constitutional Law’, EUI LAW, 2006/46 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/6447
Abstract
The UN Charter and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties require interpreting treaties and
settling international disputes “in conformity with the principles of justice and international law.”
This contribution discusses procedural and substantive principles of justice which the international
judge may take into account in interpreting international economic agreements. The “sovereign
equality of states” underlying the “international law of coexistence” as well as the “international law
of intergovernmental cooperation” must be interpreted in conformity with the universal recognition
of human dignity as a source of inalienable human rights. The universal recognition of economic
and social human rights further requires taking into account solidarity principles, as proposed also
by the sociological approach to international law. The constitutional structures and citizen-oriented
functions of the law of international economic organizations liberalizing and regulating mutually
beneficial market transactions among citizens require judges to engage in a careful balancing of
state-centered and citizen-oriented principles of international law, including respect for the emerging
human right to democratic decision-making. This modern “international integration law” and the
increasing number of “international constitutional rules” promote the reconciliation of the various
state-centered approaches, human rights approaches, sociological approaches and policy-approaches
to international law as a system not only of international rules and “legal pluralism” but also of
constitutionally limited decision-making processes and struggles for human rights.