Pleading for international law: assessing the influence of party to proceedings on legal change in international courts
Author:
Hamilton Byrne William1,
Godzimirska Zuzanna2ORCID
Affiliation:
1. MOBILE, Centre of Excellence for Global Mobility Law, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen , Denmark
2. iCourts, Centre of Excellence for International Courts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen , Denmark
Abstract
Abstract
Scholars increasingly seek to understand the driving forces behind change in international law. However, these analyses often tend to provide external forms of analysis that presume change can be identified without engaging with the actors or looking at the law. This article takes the role of party pleadings in international dispute settlement as a means through which we can assess the influence of actors on law-making. Taking the development of the ‘control of the crime’ theory at the International Criminal Court as its object, the article scrutinizes legal change by dissecting the multifaceted role of pleadings. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and conducting quantitative analysis of citation patterns, content analysis of case law, and interviews with practitioners, it offers a novel methodological take and empirical insights into our understanding of what makes up legal change in international law, and how we can identify its meaning through different access points.
Funder
Centre of Excellence for International Courts, Faculty of Law
University of Copenhagen
Danish National Research Foundation
European Research Council
European Union's Horizon 2020
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Law,Political Science and International Relations