MJIEL Vol 11 Issue 1 2014 - Book Review

Applicable Law in Investor-State Arbitration: The Interplay between National and International Law, by Hege Elisabeth Kjos, Oxford University Press, [Oxford Monographs in International Law] 2013, 337 pages, ISBN: 978-0-19-965695-0, £50 (Hardback); £70; Also available as e-book. By Hege Elisabeth Kjos
Reviewed by A F M Maniruzzaman

Over the last quarter-century international investment arbitration has grown exponentially and case law in the field is developing apace towards an emerging body of international law, known as international investment law. With many distinct characteristics international investment arbitration or investor-state arbitration, as opposed to international commercial arbitration, is emerging as a column of the edifice of public international law, according to many jurists.1 One may wonder, however, if international investment law can be public international law per se or the lex specialis in its own right because of its unique elements derived from the private and public law paradigm. The author herself observes that ‘... investment tribunals distinguish themselves from national and international courts, as the latter have less occasion to apply international or national law respectively.’ (p. 296). The present book under review, as the title speaks for itself, focuses on the interplay between national and international law in the context of applicable law towards a ‘sui generis possibility’ (p. 103) in investor-state arbitration.


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