Tzanakopoulos: Domestic Judicial Law-Making

Antonios Tzanakopoulos (Univ. of Oxford - Law) has posted Domestic Judicial Law-Making (in Research Handbook on the Theory and Practice of International Law-Making, Catherine Brölmann & Yannick Radi eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This contribution to the Research Handbook on the Theory and Practice of International Law-Making discusses the law-making potential of domestic courts. Given the seemingly strict 'dualist' approach of international law to domestic law and domestic court decisions ('merely facts'), the paper demonstrates the modest international law-developing function of domestic courts: it first details their methods in engaging international law, and then discusses the impact of such engagement. It concludes that domestic courts may, in terms of content, fine-tune rules of international law rather than set grand principles. In terms of process, this is done by 'suggesting' the fine-tuning, rather than in any way single-handedly developing international law.