New Issue: International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (Vol. 40, no. 4, 2025) is out. Contents include:

• IJMCL 40th anniversary Special Issue. The Law of the Sea: Past Lessons and Future Challenges
• David Freestone, The Law of the Sea: Past Lessons and Future Challenges
• Irini Papanicolopulu, Ebbs and Flows: Changing Perspectives on Law of the Sea Scholarship
• Ronán Long, Navigational Rights and Freedoms: Continued Relevance and Contemporary Challenges
• Nilüfer Oral, Straits Used for International Navigation and Protection of the Marine Environment
• Natalie Klein, Warships and Sovereign Immunity
• James Kraska, Maritime Power and the Law of the Sea
• James Harrison, International Fisheries Law in Pursuit of the Three Pillars of Sustainability
• Michael W. Lodge, Troubled Waters Ahead: Is It Time to Re-Evaluate the 1994 Implementation Agreement?
• Xiangxin Xu, Li Chen & Guifang Xue, Will the isa Exploitation Regulations Ever Be Adopted?
• Robin Churchill, Adjudicating the Law of the Sea
• Rosmary Rayfuse, Climate Change, the Ocean and the Law of the Sea: A Retrospective Prospective
• Clive Schofield, A Rising Concern: The Response of Pacific Island States to Sea Level Rise
• Davor Vidas, The ILA Committee on Sea Level Rise and the Clarification of the Law of the Sea: From the Holocene to the Anthropocene
• Beatriz Martinez Romera, Regulating International Maritime Transport Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Time: Progress and Challenges
• Mitchell Lennan, International Fisheries and Climate Change Adaptation
• Richard Barnes, Stewardship as the Object and Purpose of the BBNJ Agreement
• Tullio Scovazzi, The BBNJ Agreement and the Principle of Common Heritage of Humankind
• Kristina M. Gjerde & Stephanie Prufer, Geoengineering: The Relevance of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the BBNJ Agreement
• Yubing Shi, The Implementation and Compliance Mechanism under BBNJ Agreement: Regulatory Efforts and New Challenges
• Joanna Mossop, The Role of Implementing Agreements in Developing the Law of the Sea
• Alex G. Oude Elferink, The Future of the LOSC: Questions, Questions, Questions
• Keyuan Zou & Ying Tan, The Impact of Digitalisation on the Development of the Law of the Sea
• Erik Franckx, Some Reflections on Legal Scholarship
• Eon Kyung Park, Seokwoo Lee & Hee Cheol Yang, Problems of Implementation of Security Council Resolutions at Sea: The DE YI Case
• Vaughan Lowe, Landfall for the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law?

Peña Neira, Araya Meza, & Henríquez San Martín: Sustainable Development as a Principle of International Law: An Analysis Based on the Jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice

Sergio Peña Neira (Universidad Mayor - Law), Patricio Araya Meza, & Sebastian Henriquez San Martín have published Sustainable Development as a Principle of International Law: An Analysis Based on the Jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice (Revista Electrónica de Derecho Internacional Contemporáneo, Vol. 8, 2025). Here's the abstract:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) and scholars in international law have long operatedwithin the framework of the principle of sustainable development. It can be argued that this concept has bynow attained recognition as a principle of international law. A legal institution may emerge from “legal factsand arguments”, including the dissenting opinions of the International Court of Justice, which although non-binding, can nevertheless influence the formation and evolution of international legal principles over time. Such is the case with the principle of sustainable development. This article addresses the construction of theprinciple of sustainable development in the jurisprudence of the ICJ—from its origins in a dissenting opinionto its consolidation as a principle of international law. The methodology used in this contribution is legal innature, based on systematic research on history, doctrine and case law, and carried out through a qualitativeapproach.

Monebhurrun: Direito internacional dos investimentos e arbitragem

Nitish Monebhurrun (Univ. Center of Brasilia) has published Direito internacional dos investimentos e arbitragem (Pontes 2025). The book is available open access. Here's the abstract:

O primeiro panorama completo e atual do Direito Internacional dos Investimentos em língua portuguesa no Brasil. Nesta obra inédita, o leitor encontra uma análise abrangente e rigorosa do regime jurí­dico dos investimentos estrangeiros, reunindo em um único volume o estudo sistemático da jurisprudência arbitral internacional, da evolução dos tratados de investimentos e das principais correntes doutrinárias contemporâneas.

Com linguagem clara e precisão técnica, o autor examina desde os fundamen­tos históricos e conceituais do regime até suas controvérsias mais recentes — incluindo padrões de proteção, responsabilidades estatais, expropriação, tratamento justo e equitativo, e a interface com políticas públicas e desenvol­vimento sustentável.

O livro apresenta ainda um mapeamento atualizado das decisões arbitrais e dos acordos internacionais em vigor, oferecendo ao leitor uma visão integrada das transformações que moldam a prática atual da arbi­tragem de investimentos. Indispensável para pesquisadores, profissionais do direito internacional, árbitros, advogados, formuladores de políticas públicas e estudantes que buscam compreender, com profundidade e atualidade, um dos campos mais dinâmicos do direito global.

International Investment Law and Arbitration offers the first comprehensive and up-to-date overview of international investment law in Portuguese in Brazil. The volume provides a rigorous analysis of the legal regime governing foreign investments, bringing together a systematic study of international arbitral jurisprudence, the evolution of investment treaties, and the main contemporary doctrinal approaches.

Written with clarity and technical precision, the book examines the historical and conceptual foundations of the regime, its key standards of protection, and its most recent controversies, including the interface between investment law, public policies, and sustainable development.

Zhao & Liu: Lawfare’s New Frontier: International Commercial Arbitration in the Shadow of Sanctions

Yue Zhao (Univ. of Geneva – Law) & Han-Wei Liu (Singapore Management Univ. – Law) have posted Lawfare’s New Frontier: International Commercial Arbitration in the Shadow of Sanctions (Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, forthcoming). Here’s the abstract:

This Article examines how international commercial arbitration is being reshaped by economic statecraft through the lens of lawfare, or the strategic use of law as a substitute for traditional coercive tools. Building on prior lawfare theory, it identifies two modalities of State-driven lawfare affecting arbitration. Instrumental lawfare arises where domestic legal measures displace arbitral authority, exemplified by assertions of exclusive jurisdiction over sanctions-related disputes. Compliance-leverage lawfare, by contrast, raises the costs and risks of participation by restricting legal services and banking access. Beyond State action, these measures generate spillovers that reshape arbitral practice by enabling private actors to exploit jurisdictional fragmentation, regulatory conflicts, and blocking statutes through contract design and forum selection. Drawing on case studies from European civil law systems, common law jurisdictions, and Asia, the Article maps how overlapping forms of lawfare produce both direct State intervention and diffuse ripple effects. It argues that while international commercial arbitration remains resilient, it is increasingly entangled with lawfare, revealing deeper intersections of law, power, and commerce in a fragmented geopolitical order.