Reappraising The Role of Experts in Recent Cases Before the International Court of Justice – 4 pm, Tuesday 28 January 2020.

The International Dispute Settlement Discussion Group is launching the first seminar of this semester.

 

 Dr. James Devaney‘s talk at the international dispute settlement discussion group is scheduled at 4 pm, Tuesday 28 January 2020.

 

Topic:  Reappraising The Role of Experts in Recent Cases Before the International Court of Justice

 

Abstract: Experts have played a prominent role in recent proceedings before the International Court of Justice (‘the Court’, ‘the ICJ’). Against the backdrop of high-profile criticism of the Court’s fact-finding process, recent cases before the Court have produced a number of notable developments which can be seen as significant steps in the right direction. Issues remain, however, largely due to a lack of conceptual clarity regarding the role that both party and Court-appointed experts should play in proceedings, caused by rudimentary procedural provisions in the Court’s constitutive instruments. This article advances a number of proposals for reform, in the form of two Practice Directions, which set out modalities for the examination of party-appointed experts and the appointment of the Court’s own experts, as well as providing reasoned guidance on the independence of experts. These proposals not only flesh out the role of the expert, but also show how the Court can accommodate the principles of party autonomy and the proper administration of justice which operate upon it.

 

      Keywords: International Court of Justice, Experts, Fact-Finding, Evidence, Procedure.

 

The venue: Moot Court Room at Old College.

 

   For the further information of the event, please contact Mr. Ke Song, ke.song@ed.ac.uk 

 

With best regards,

 

Ke Song

 

Convenor of International Dispute Settlement Discussion Group

 

 

Bio of Dr. James Devaney

Dr James Devaney is Lecturer in Law, Director of the LLM in International Law, and LLM Assessment Officer. He has studied law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (PhD 2015, LLM 2012), the University of Glasgow (LLM (distinction) 2010) and the University of Strathclyde (LL.B (Hons) 2009). He has previously been a visiting scholar at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, the University of Sydney, and most recently was a fellow of the Berlin-Potsdam Research Group “International Law – Rise or Decline?”

 

His research interests are varied and he has published on a range of areas of international law including State immunity, genocide, self-defence and the use of force, the law of the sea and State succession to treaties. His monograph, ‘Fact-Finding Before the International Court of Justice’, which focusses on the use of evidence before international courts and tribunals including the adjudicative bodies of the WTO and inter-State arbitration, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2016, and nominated for the Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship in 2017. He is a member of the International Law Association Committee on the Procedure of International Courts and Tribunals, and is also a member of the Bar of the State of New York.