scholarly journals Demystifying Moral Damages in International Investment Arbitration

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-450
Author(s):  
Simon Weber

Abstract Claims for compensation of material damages in investment arbitration are well known – they are part of every dispute. Tribunals deal extensively with such claims and do not accord much attention to another type of damages: moral damages. Until today, no uniform solution has been found. There seems to be stark disagreement between arbitral tribunals on how to deal with a claim for moral damages. This article sheds light on moral damages and proposes a possible solution under international law. To this end, it introduces the concept of moral damages and its history in international disputes. After having set out such general overview, it then applies the concept to investment arbitration by analysing five issues arbitral tribunals have been faced with when confronted by a claim for moral damages. Finally, it comments on the most prominent awards and provides an outlook for a possible solution.

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schliemann

Abstract The legal standard on amicus curiae participation in international investment arbitration has been forged by the judicial development of legal rules and, in parallel, the modification of normative sources, such as the ICSID Arbitration Rules. Current and future decisions by arbitral tribunals on the participation of amicus curiae in a given dispute must abide by this consolidated standard. In June 2012, the arbitral tribunal in Joint ICSID Cases No. ARB/10/15 and No. ARB/10/25 released a procedural order, rejecting an amicus petition. This Order contains various deviations from the applicable legal standard and severely restricts the options for amicus participation. The recent attempt to strengthen the legitimacy of international investment arbitration by allowing for greater amicus participation and the acknowledgement of the interdependence of investment law and other areas of international law is thereby put in peril.


Author(s):  
McLachlan Campbell ◽  
Shore Laurence ◽  
Weiniger Matthew

This is the long-awaited second edition of this widely-referenced work on the substantive law principles of investment treaty arbitration. It forms a detailed critical review of the substantive principles of international law applied by investment arbitration tribunals, and a clear and comprehensive description of the present state of the law. The first edition met with immediate success as a result of the authors’ achievement in describing and analysing the volume of law created, applied and analysed by tribunals. The second edition is fully updated to take account of the arbitration awards rendered in the period since 2007. Written by an internationally recognised author team, it is now the most comprehensive and up to date work in its field and no practitioner or academic can afford to be without it.


2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Gilles Sourgens

AbstractThis article explores the problems of public accountability in current investment law practice. These problems arise from the private interpretation of international investment treaty and customary law in arbitration. It analyses these problems through the historical lens of Roman law and the Roman law tradition in international law. It suggests a Praetorian system of international accountability and explores the remarkable similarities between current investment arbitration and classical Roman civil procedure.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Sean Morris

One of the most important cases in the jurisprudence of international law – Chorzów Factory – has a hidden secret, so much so that, even when in plain sight, legal post-mortems of the case fail to mention this well-kept secret. Chorzów Factory was about intellectual property rights, specifically patents and trade secrets, and this narrative has never been fully addressed. When the developments in international investment law and arbitration are fully considered it is worth looking back at Chorzów Factory to associate it with new streams of contemporary investor-state disputes that include issues such as intellectual property rights. Because Chorzów Factory has established the full reparation standard for unlawful expropriation, the standard has enabled a continuity of international law and underscores its importance for contemporary investment arbitration. However, the intellectual property narrative of Chorzów Factory has been neglected, and, in this article, I want to develop the intellectual property narrative of Chorzów Factory and to demonstrate the nexus between fair compensation, intellectual property rights and the continuity of international law.


Author(s):  
Fouret Julien

This chapter aims to help the new investment arbitration practitioner identify and find the main legal sources for dealing with international investment law issues. Three different topics need to be addressed in order to cover, as extensively as possible, the legal issues generally raised during an arbitration based on an international investment agreement. First, even though the stare decisis rule does not exist in international arbitration, including investment arbitration, previous rulings are often used and analyzed by arbitrators. Second, when dealing with investment arbitration, it is likely that the claim will be treaty based. Finally, and most importantly, in international investment disputes, arbitral tribunals rely on all the sources of public international law identified in Article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which provides for the Court to apply.


Author(s):  
Mary B. Ayad

General principles of law are a valid source of law for arbitral tribunals. The Vienna Convention1 allows recourse to general principles of law. In Bilateral Investment Treaty (hereinafter “BIT”) interpretation but also in International Commercial Arbitration (hereinafter “ICA”)/International Investment Arbitration (“hereinafter “IIA”), arbitrators can be guided by the Vienna Convention2 and in so doing may refer to a number of ‘rules’ and norms of ‘international law’ applicable to the relations between states, such as those mentioned herein including principles drawn from the lex mercatoria or other types of international customary law, e.g. the principle of pacta sunt servanda, which honours contracts between states and investors, as well as the principle of precedent. Additionally, they may refer to customary norms from other jurisdictions that can harmonise with Western law.


Global Jurist ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aveek Chakravarty

AbstractThis article addresses the particular challenges involved in valuing various types of crypto-assets as investments under treaty-based investment arbitration. The interaction of the international investment protection regime with crypto-investments has largely remained un-examined, even though increasing amounts of foreign investments have flown into the development of crypto-assets its related markets. The existing investment treaty regime is set to face significant challenges in grappling with crypto-assets as investments due to several distinct features that differentiate them from traditional asset classes. This issue is explored further in the article from the perspective of the principles governing damages under international law.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-80
Author(s):  
Vladislav Tolstykh

The article examines the forms of bad faith of international judges, the possibilities of counteracting manifestations of bad faith and the factors that stimulate bad faith. Among the first, there are forms related to the appointment of arbitrators (moonlighting, revolving door, issue conflict, etc.), and forms related to the process itself (ex parte communication, pressure on other judges, involving an assistant to perform the work of a judge, etc.). The article provides specific examples of bad faith and analyzes the positions of the courts and doctrine. The focus is on manifestations of bad faith in international investment arbitration, the reform of which is now on the UNCITRAL agenda. The author describes institutional, organizational, procedural and conceptual measures to counteract bad faith of international judges; special attention is paid to the latter, which imply the consolidation of new procedural and substantive concepts, for example, the concept of the presumption of guilt of judges, the concept of the international judicial decision as a sui generis agreement, etc. The author also calls for debates about philosophical, sociological, political, historical and economic aspects of international justice based on the recognition of the fact that it is not a static institution, but, on the contrary, is undergoing profound transformations (like the world as a whole). In conclusion, the author fixes the factors that stimulate bad faith: related to the general shortcomings of international law; associated with its dependence on the political environment; concerning the processes taking place within the judicial corporation; and, finally, concerning the transition of our civilization to the stage of postmodernity, which presupposes distrust in relation to metanarratives. The latter tendency is defined as general, objective and natural; the crisis of international justice in this regard is only one aspect of the general crisis of law and, at the same time, one of its evidence.


Author(s):  
Sourgens Frédéric Gilles ◽  
Duggal Kabir ◽  
Laird Ian A

This chapter discusses the concept of the burden of proof in investor-state arbitration. The basic rule regarding the burden of proof in international law is that the party who makes an assertion must prove it. The rule has its origins in the traditions of Roman, common, and civil law countries, and is not new or unique to investment arbitration. In fact, this principle has been widely recognized by several international dispute settlement panels, as well as other international agencies. Not every set of arbitration rules explicitly includes this rule, however, although there is near unanimity by tribunals and commentators in its application.


Author(s):  
Lars Markert ◽  
Elisa Freiburg

This article sets out to examine the legal nature of and the requirements for granting moral damages in international (investment) law. In doing so, we will consider various general public international law and investment law cases. We will place a particular emphasis on the former, since they provide a valuable platform for the analysis of the origins of moral damages and an exploration of how international tribunals have dealt with moral damages under different circumstances. The more recent investment arbitration cases provide a useful insight into several controversial issues arising out of the arbitral tribunals’ holdings. We will develop a proposal as to how moral damages should be characterized doctrinally and show that nowadays moral damages claims are generally accepted in investment law, despite still existing uncertainties regarding their scope and application.


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