E. de Wet and J. Vidmar (eds), Hierarchy in International Law: The Place of Human Rights

Abstract

The book under review, Hierarchy in International Law: The Place of Human Rights, is one outcome of a research project at the Amsterdam Center for International Law. The broader project has the title: ‘The emerging international constitutional order: the implications of hierarchy in international law for the coherence and legitimacy of international decision-making’. The debate on whether and in what manner the international legal order should be conceptualised in constitutional terms is long running and includes various theoretical perspectives. Hierarchy in International Law does not attempt to add another strand of theory to this debate. Rather it seeks to contribute to the debate by examining how international human rights law has been treated by judicial bodies when it conflicts with other international law. The premise of the book is that if international human rights law is treated by courts in a favourable manner when it conflicts with other international...