About/Bio
Christian J. Tams is Professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow, where he directs the Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security. He is the Review Editor of the European Journal of International Law and an academic member of Matrix Chambers London. His research focuses on questions of dispute resolution, the use of force, investment law and the law of treaties. A selection of his contributions is available on SSRN.
Recently Published
In This Issue – Reviews
Two essays begin the review section, one by Alan Nissel and another by Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi. Nissel reviews Kathryn Greenman’s State Responsibility and Rebels: The History and Legacy of Protecting Investment Against Revolution, suggesting that it has ‘tremendous import for the philosophy of international law’ with its postcolonial critique and discussion of a better framework for the law of state responsibility.
In This Issue – Reviews
Sigrid Boysen opens the section with her review of Marie-Catherine Petersmann's When Environmental Protection and Human Rights Collide. Boysen finds much to agree with in Petersmann’s account and notably praises her challenge to the ‘mantra of synergy’ according to which human rights protection and international environmental law are in a mutually supportive relationship. We move on to Prisca…
In this Issue – Reviews
This issue features five book reviews – all of which our reviewers seemed to enjoy a lot. We begin with Diane Desierto’s review of Tom Ginsburg’s ‘magisterial’ Democracies and International Law. Desierto notes the urgency of Ginsburg’s inquiry at a time when authoritarian powers ‘repurpose, cherry-pick, and distort human rights for their private political ends, economic gain, and the entrenchment of…
Popular articles by Christian Tams
Immunities and Compromissory Clauses: Making Sense of Enrica Lexie (Part I)
Small(ish) disputes can make for significant holdings. From Nottebohm to Lotus to AAPL v Sri Lanka, the list of relatively limited incidents prompting far-reaching judicial and arbitral pronouncements is long. We may now have to add Enrica Lexie to it. The PCA’s award…
The Kosovo Opinion
August 6, 2010
Christian Tams
Christian J. Tams is Professor of International Law at the Univeristy of Glasgow. His publications include Enforcing Obligations Erga Omnes in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2005). The International Court of Justice’s Kosovo opinion of 22 July had been much expected. It was one of the not so frequent instances which the world (as opposed to State parties,…
Immunities and Compromissory Clauses: Making Sense of Enrica Lexie (Part II)
In Part I of this post, we discussed how the Arbitral Tribunal, in its recently-released award in the Enrica Lexie case, approached the question of incidental jurisdiction over questions of immunity. While the Tribunal’s jurisdiction, under Article 288 UNCLOS, was limited to ‘dispute[s] concerning the interpretation or application of th[e] [Law of the Sea] Convention’…