The Origins of International Investment Law
Empire, Environment and the Safeguarding of Capital
Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law Series

International investment law is a complex and dynamic field. Yet, the implications of its history are under explored. Kate Miles examines the historical evolution of international investment law, assessing its origins in the commercial and political expansionism of dominant states during the seventeenth to early twentieth centuries and the continued resonance of those origins within modern foreign investment protection law. In particular, the exploration of the activities of the Dutch East India Company, Grotius' treatises, and pre-World War II international investment disputes provides insight into current controversies surrounding the interplay of public and private interests, the systemic design of investor-state arbitration, the substantive focus of principles, and the treatment of environmental issues within international investment law. In adopting such an approach, this book provides a fresh conceptual framework through which contemporary issues can be examined and creates new understandings of those controversies.

Introduction; Part I. Historical Evolution of Foreign Investment Protection Law: 1. Origins of international investment law; 2. 'The dynamic of a politically oriented law': foreign investment protection in a changing political environment; Part II. Contemporary Interaction: Foreign Investment, Imperialism and Environmental Protection: 3. Polarisation of positions; 4. Hints at synergy; Part III. Foreign Investment Law, Practices and Policy: Future Trends: 5. Transformation in international law: applying developments to foreign investment; 6. Paths towards a reconceptualised international law on foreign investment; 7. Conclusion: patterns of power in international investment law.

Kate Miles is a Fellow and College Lecturer in Law at Gonville and Caius, University of Cambridge. She currently serves on the International Law Association's New Study Group on the Role of Soft Law Instruments in International Investment Law. She is also a Research Fellow of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, Montreal, and co-ordinates the International Investment Law Network for the Society of International Economic Law.