TY - JOUR
T1 - The Global Spread of European Style International Courts
AU - Alter, Karen J.
N1 - Funding Information:
When it appeared that the soon-to-be-implemented OHADA Uniform Acts had been largely forgotten, French patrons, with the support of funding from various international institutions, created a non-governmental organisation to promote awareness of OHADA and its laws. The Association for the Unification of African Law (UNIDA) plays an analogous role to Eurolaw associations, which formed in the 1950s and 1960s to help promote European Community law (Alter 2009: 63–91). UNIDA helps with training sessions and maintains a website – OHADA.com – that makes available OHADA Uniform Acts, and CCJA and national court rulings applying OHADA law. The French journal Juriscope, with the support of Coopéra-tion Franc¸ ais, publishes commentary and compendiums of Uniform Acts and community case law, which they help to distribute throughout the region. This is important because in many African countries journals publishing laws and legal rulings are irregularly maintained and hard to access. Members of UNIDA’s network regularly visit national courts to collect rulings that pertain to OHADA. The rulings are transcribed and published online. While the collection of national legal rulings on OHADA.com is surely incomplete, UNIDA’s website supplies what may be the only publicly available searchable source for case law in OHADA member states.
PY - 2012/1
Y1 - 2012/1
N2 - Europe created the model of embedded international courts (ICs) where domestic judges work with international judges to interpret and apply international legal rules that are also part of national legal orders. This model has now diffused around the world. This article documents the spread of European style ICs: there are now 11 operational copies of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), and a number of ICs that do not copy the ECJ but use Europe's embedded approach to international law. After documenting the spread of European style ICs, the article then explains how two regions chose European style ICs, yet varied from the ECJ model.
AB - Europe created the model of embedded international courts (ICs) where domestic judges work with international judges to interpret and apply international legal rules that are also part of national legal orders. This model has now diffused around the world. This article documents the spread of European style ICs: there are now 11 operational copies of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), and a number of ICs that do not copy the ECJ but use Europe's embedded approach to international law. After documenting the spread of European style ICs, the article then explains how two regions chose European style ICs, yet varied from the ECJ model.
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U2 - 10.1080/01402382.2012.631318
DO - 10.1080/01402382.2012.631318
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84855454877
VL - 35
SP - 135
EP - 154
JO - West European Politics
JF - West European Politics
SN - 0140-2382
IS - 1
ER -