Enforcing Judgments of International Courts in National Courts

Abstract

The issue whether a national court can enforce or give effect to remedies provided by an international court has not received adequate attention from public and private international lawyers. Given the proliferation of international courts with compulsory jurisdiction, individual locus standi to litigate before international courts and recent national court decisions denying or enforcing such remedies, this article argues for greater attention to be devoted to the issue. Using a recent Constitutional Court of South Africa decision as the fulcrum of analysis, the article exposes some of the challenges posed when national courts attempt to enforce such remedies, as well as ways of overcoming those challenges.