Judicial activism and restraint in the creation of the International Judicial Function

How have activism and restraint shaped the international courts? The thesis attempts to bring coherence to the manner in which international courts and tribunals interpret international law, how they reason out their decisions, and the subsequent effect that this has had upon the institutions themselves.

On the one hand, for most of its existence, international law has largely been examined without its judicial component with limited legal scholarship analysing the emergence of the role of the international judge. On the other hand, many courts have been accused of either overstepping or sometimes underplaying the boundaries and powers granted to them by their creators (the States) while carrying out their interpretation of international law. The thesis bridges these two components, as it examines how the judicial institutions on the international arena have gradually shaped themselves through their unexpected, and sometimes eccentric, judicial reasoning, that has resulted in novel approaches to international law as well as the creation of an independent function of the international judge.

Click here for the live stream.

Also read

  • Intercountry adoption often appears to be the ultimate humanitarian deed. However, the reality is more complex. Dr. Elvira Loibl, assistant professor at the Department of Criminal Law at Maastricht University’s Law Faculty, uncovered significant weaknesses in the Dutch intercountry adoption system. ...

  • Paula Roldán Barraza will join METRO as a PhD researcher. She will be based both at SBE and at LAW and will be supervised by Iwan Bos (SBE), Niels Philipsen (METRO) and Kalpana Tyagi (IGIR). 

  • Professor Andrea Ott successfully applied for a a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Crises and Emergencies in EU Integration (EmergEU) in July 2024. In the upcoming three years, the centre will explore crises and emergencies in EU integration.