LAW - 679 International Investment Law

(2-3 hrs.)

This course will explore important concepts and issues in foreign and international law relating to international investment. International investment is an increasingly powerful force for economic growth and development throughout the world. While economic forces are the essential drivers of international investment, they are not the only factors that influence it. Legal rules and institutions also affect international investment flows. Law determines whether and how investments may be made in a particular country, the nature of the respective rights of investors and host country governments, the means by which governments and investors may adjust their legal relationships to changing circumstances, and the processes they may use to resolve their investment disputes. Lawyers therefore play key roles in the undertaking, management and protection of international investments. The law of international investment derives from three basic legal frameworks: (1) national laws, both of the host country and the investor’s home country; (2) contacts, whether between investors and host governments or among investors; and (3) international law, consisting of applicable treaties, customs, and general legal principles developed by states. These three legal frameworks from the basic structure for the course. FRANCK: International investment is a powerful force with implications for economic growth, development, global governance, and political economy. The legal rules, frameworks, and institutions governing international investment derive from core doctrinal sources including: contacts and commerical arrangements (whether between investors and host governments or among investors), national law governing international investment activity; international law, including the network of over 3,000 treaties governing international investment, custom, general principles of law, and international tribunals; soft law and other instruments derived from international organizations; and policy considerations. Within that legal and policy context, this course explores: the historical evolution of international investment law, the current framework of how states, investors, advocates and adjudicators interact; and the potential future for international investment law as it seeks to draw an appropriate balance among stakeholder interests.