A Digest of WTO Jurisprudence on Public International Law Concepts and Principles

In its first twenty years, the WTO dispute settlement system generated over 350 decisions totalling more than 60,000 pages. These decisions contain many statements by WTO adjudicators regarding the law of treaties, state responsibility, international dispute settlement, and other topics of general public international law. This book is a collection of nearly one thousand statements by WTO adjudicators relating to admissibility and jurisdiction; attribution of conduct to a State; breach of an obligation; conflicts between treaties; countermeasures; due process; evidence before international tribunals; good faith; judicial economy; municipal law; non-retroactivity; reasonableness; sources of international law; sovereignty; treaty interpretation; and words and phrases commonly used in treaties and other international legal instruments. This comprehensive digest presents summaries and extracts organized systematically under issue-specific sub-headings, making this jurisprudence easily accessible to students and practitioners working in any field of international law.

Foreword Joost Pauwelyn; 1. Admissibility and jurisdiction; 2. Attribution of conduct; 3. Breach of an obligation; 4. Conflicts between treaties; 5. Countermeasures; 6. Due process; 7. Evidence before international tribunals; 8. Good faith; 9. Judicial economy; 10. Municipal law; 11. Non-retroactivity; 12. Reasonableness; 13. Sources of international law; 14. Sovereignty; 15. Treaty interpretation; 16. Words and phrases considered.

Graham Cook is Counsellor with the Legal Affairs Division of the WTO Secretariat in Geneva. In that capacity, he has served as a legal advisor to numerous WTO dispute settlement panels.