Treaty Interpretation In Investment Arbitration by J. Romesh Weeramantry

Abstract

Treaty Interpretation In Investment Arbitration by J. Romesh Weeramantry Oxford University Press (2012), Hardback, 312 pp. Price: £125. ISBN 978-0-19-964147-5 Law of treaties is one of most important topics in public international law. In recent decades, it has become an overriding issue as a result of the evolution of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). The advent of BITs has led to a significant development of investor-State arbitration cases in which there is a great diversity and uncertainty with respect to the interpretation of BITs by arbitrators. Accordingly, a controversial question arises as to how and on what legal basis treaty interpretation rules are applied by investment arbitration tribunals. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) is the most relevant legal source to treaty interpretation, but it is not the only one. Investment arbitration tribunals sometimes rely on criteria other than those codified in the VCLT, such as prior awards, principle of effectiveness, doctrinal views, treaties and instruments. Treaty Interpretation In Investment Arbitration is a welcome book which pays a particular attention to the above-mentioned issues. This book is based on the author's PhD research conducted at Queen Mary, University of London. It combines an evaluation of academic literature and extensive investment arbitration jurisprudence. What makes the book practically remarkable is the study of 258 foreign investment arbitration awards, including BITs, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and other investment treaties, carried out by the author and elegantly provided in Tables in Appendix I of the book. These tables provide information in relation to investment arbitration awards from 1990 to June 2011. They illustrate the number of …