Law
Domestic Courts
Domestic courts refer to the judicial institutions within a specific country that have the authority to hear and decide cases related to that country's laws. These courts handle a wide range of legal matters, including civil, criminal, and administrative cases. Their decisions are typically binding within the borders of the country where they operate.
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5 Key excerpts on "Domestic Courts"
- Daniel Peat(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
3 Domestic Law in the Jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice 3.1 Introduction Of the courts and tribunals surveyed in this book, those that deal with inter-state disputes have been most reticent to invoke domestic law to interpret international law. Some commentators have sug- gested that this may be due to a concern of bias towards the cited countries, 1 a remark that certainly seems to have weight and perhaps explains why the courts and tribunals examined in this and the following chapter have tightly circumscribed their reference to domestic law, generally limiting the cited law to the parties to the case at hand. However, other factors would also seem to distinguish inter-state courts and tribunals from those examined in subsequent chapters. The most obvious of these is the weaker analogy between domestic law and international law related to inter-state affairs, insofar as the latter aims to regulate the actions of states, not individuals. 2 Whilst international criminal law, human rights law and international investment law arguably have clear parallels with domestic criminal law, constitu- tional law and public and administrative law, respectively, the rules regulating inter-state conduct have traditionally been analogised to 1 ‘Observations of Judge Philip Jessup’, (1985) 61 [I] Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit international 252, 253. (‘The Court [ICJ], qua Court, naturally hesitates to cite individuals or national courts lest it appear to have some bias or predilection.’) 2 Of course, that is not to say that inter-state disputes do not have an impact on individuals, or that individuals’ rights or actions may constitute the very subject-matter of a dispute between states. See for example, Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v. DRC), Merits, Judgment, (2010) ICJ Rep 639; Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. US), Judgment, (2004) ICJ Rep 12. 49
eBook - PDF- Malcolm N. Shaw(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
However, the influence of international law is beginning to make itself felt in areas hitherto regarded as subject to the state’s exclusive jurisdiction. For example, the treatment by a country of its own nationals is now viewed in the context of international human rights regulations, although in practice the effect of this has often been disappointing. 7 Domestic jurisdiction is a relative concept, in that changing principles of inter- national law have had the effect of limiting and reducing its extent 8 and in that matters of internal regulation may well have international repercussions and thus fall within the ambit of international law. This latter point has been emphasised by the 5 See generally G. C. Cheshire, P. M. North and J. Fawcett, Private International Law, 15th ed., Oxford, 2017. See also as to the relationship between public and private international law, A. Mills, The Confluence of Public and Private International Law, Cambridge, 2009. Questions may also arise as to the conditions required for leave for service abroad: see e.g. Al-Adsani v. Government of Kuwait and Others 100 ILR, p. 465. 6 See e.g. M. S. Rajan, United Nations and Domestic Jurisdiction, 2nd ed., London, 1961; P. Daillier, M. Forteau and A. Pellet, Droit International Public, 8th ed., 2009, p. 483; and see further above, Chapter 4. 7 See above, Chapter 6. 8 Whether a matter is or is not within the domestic jurisdiction of states is itself a question for inter- national law: see Nationality Decrees in Tunis and Morocco, PCIJ, Series B, No. 4, 1923, pp. 7, 23–4; 2 AD, pp. 349, 352. The Principle of Domestic Jurisdiction 557 International Court of Justice. In the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, 9 it was stressed that: Although it is true that the act of delimitation [of territorial waters] is necessarily a unilateral act, because only the coastal state is competent to undertake it, the validity of the delimitation with regard to other states depends upon international law.
eBook - PDF- Hurst Hannum(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
Chapter 13 The Role of Domestic Courts in Enforcing International Human Rights Law Richard B. Lillich Although [international human rights law is derived from a variety of sources and involves many kinds of materials, both international and national, as Professor Bilder rightly observes in chapter 1, it is to national law that one must look first to determine the scope and content of the human rights recognized and protected in any country. Domestic Courts confronted with human rights claims initially refer to national constitutions, laws, decrees, regulations, court and admin-istrative decisions, and policy pronouncements for relevant rules of decision. Increasingly, however, Domestic Courts also are taking inter-national human rights law into account in deciding cases. The pur-pose of this chapter is to describe and give some guidance as to their past and future use of such law. While international human rights law has had considerable impact in the courts of other countries, principally but not exclusively in Eu-rope, 1 the focus of this chapter will be on the principles and rules governing cases in federal and state courts of the United States, since the problems raised in U.S. cases are generally representative of the problems courts face in many other countries. A Brief Overview Article VI, section 2, of the U.S. Constitution provides that all Trea-ties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. Under this provision, the only one in the Constitution that speaks to the relation of inter-national law to municipal law in U.S. courts, a self-executing treaty (or Domestic Courts and International Law 229 a non-self-executing treaty when implemented by Congress) super-sedes all inconsistent state and local laws.
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Learning Press(Publisher)
It refers to the legal system administered by the courts in England and Wales, which rule on both civil and criminal matters. English law is renowned as being the mother of the common law, and is based of those principles. English law can be described as having its own distinct legal doctrine, distinct from civil law legal systems since 1189. There has been no major codification of the law, and subject to statute, the law is developed by judges in court, applying statute, precedent and common sense to the facts before them, to give explanatory judgements of the relevant legal principles, which are reported and binding in future similar cases ( stare decisis ).. In the early centuries, the justices and judges were responsible for adapting the Writ system to meet everyday needs, applying a mixture of precedent and common sense to build up a body of internally consistent law, e.g., the Law Merchant began in the Pie-Powder Courts see Court of Piepowder (a corruption of the French pieds-poudrés or dusty feet, meaning ad hoc marketplace courts). As Parliament developed in strength and, subject to the doctrine of separation of powers, legislation gradually overtook judicial law-making, so that today judges are only able to innovate in certain very narrowly-defined areas. Time before 1189 was defined in 1276 as being time immemorial. ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ The courts of England and Wales are headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land for both criminal and civil appeal cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the same jurisdiction, and often has persuasive effect in its other jurisdictions.
- Panos Merkouris, Jörg Kammerhofer, Noora Arajärvi(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
36 Pellet &Müller (n 14) 954 [323]. 462 nina mileva not all) nations. 37 Thus, while Domestic Courts are featured in the doctrine of sources and into processes of treaty interpretation, they are formally treated just like one organ of one state and this significantly limits their formal impact on the development of international law. 38 In light of this, scholars increasingly examine the role of Domestic Courts in the develop- ment of international law beyond the formal framework of sources. It is to this body of scholarship that we now turn. 3.2 Domestic Courts beyond the Framework of Sources In studying the contribution of Domestic Courts to the development of international law, scholars have pointed to the need to look beyond the traditionally formal approach of the framework of sources and widen the lens of inquiry in order to fully grasp their role. 39 What this seems to signify is that scholars retain the framework of sources as a departing point in their analysis, but identify that in practice Domestic Courts contribute to the development of international law much more significantly. 40 For instance, in her development of the concept of com- parative international law, Anthea Roberts identifies a so-called duality of Domestic Courts in their interaction with international law. In this frame- work the role of Domestic Courts under international law is split between on the one hand law creation and on the other law enforcement. 41 In order to demonstrate this duality, Roberts relies on the theory of sources, but argues that domestic court decisions actually have a far greater effect on international law than what is envisaged by the sources doctrine.
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