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Justice and Authority in Investment Protection

  • Oisin Suttle EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: August 30, 2021

Abstract

What role should concerns about distributive justice play in international investment law? This paper argues that answers to fundamental and contestable questions of social and global distributive justice are a necessary, if implicit, premise of international investment law. In particular, they shape our views on the purpose of investment law, and in turn determine the scope of authority that investment law can claim, and that states should accord it. The implausibility of achieving international consensus on these questions constitutes a substantial objection to the harmonization of investment law or the consistent operation of a multilateral investment court.


Corresponding author: Oisin Suttle, Department of Law, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at PluriCourts University of Oslo Workshop on Reforms of International Investment Arbitration: Philosophical Perspectives December 2018, iCourts University of Copenhagen Conference on The Power of International Courts May 2019, the Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference August 2019, and Maynooth University Department of Law Research Seminar February 2021. I am grateful to audiences on each occasion, and to anonymous peer reviewers for this journal, for helpful suggestions.

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Published Online: 2021-08-30
Published in Print: 2022-06-27

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