1108 | Investment Treaty Laws

In the last three decades investment treaties have emerged from relative obscurity and taken centre stage in legal and policy debates. For several states, the scope and flexibility of investment treaty rights has presented an unexpected challenge. The use of investment treaties to challenge regulatory measures relating to taxation, environment protection, public health, economic activity, etc. has been viewed with hostility and considered to be illegitimate and unintended exploitation of investment treaties. At the same time, civil society groups and academics have criticised other aspects of the investment treaty regime, such as the opaque character of arbitration proceedings, the lack of binding precedent, the lack of a proper appellate mechanism, the lack of control by states over the interpretation and application of investment treaties and the lack of diversity among arbitrators.

This course seeks to provide an introduction to investment treaty law that addresses both substantive principles and prominent criticisms. All students should have completed a basic course on public international law. This course develops on such basic course by providing an introduction to a specialised field of public international law.

The course relies on treaties and select awards (primary material) and also commentary (secondary material) to discuss the substantive principles of investment treaty law. The course relies on commentary (secondary material) to discuss the prominent criticisms in respect of investment treaty law.

The course will adopt a mix of lectures and seminar style discussion. There are ten modules.