PIL Discussion Group: The making of general rules and principles of international judicial procedure

The purpose of this presentation is to illustrate part of a broader research project on International Procedural Law-Making analysing in a systematic way procedural rules – limited to the field of judicial procedure – from the perspective of the sources of international law. Scholars pay little attention to their formation and even less to their dynamics. Some recent studies are dedicated to the phenomenon often referred to as “cross-fertilization” in the field of international judicial procedure but struggle to explain its outcomes in terms of consistent procedural solutions. A more promising avenue, it is believed, is to return to the traditional conceptual framework of “sources” or “law-making” in order to understand how common judicial procedural rules may emerge. Appraising current practice through the lens of old categories is particularly stimulating because this approach requires conceiving judges as actors in the production of international norms, it precludes from viewing them as self-contained regimes and entails that their interactions should fit within the processes of international law-making.

Béatrice Bonafé, PhD EUI, is Professeure de droit public at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, previously Professor of International Law at the University of Rome La Sapienza. She teaches general and advanced courses of International Law. She is Rapporteur of the ILA Committee on Abuse of Rights and legal expert to the Ad hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards to ICERD (since 2023). She has been visiting professor in Europe and the Americas. She is member of the managing board of Questions of International Law, member of the scientific committee of the Revue belge de droit international and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law. She is the editor of the ICJ section of Ordine internazionale e diritti umani. She chaired (2015-2023) and had been a member (2009-2013) of the Scientific secretariat of the Institut de droit international. She has been an ERC panel member for advanced grants (2019-2021). She published three monographs and scientific articles in English, French and Italian. Her research interests cover the Law of International Responsibility, International Criminal Law, International Procedural Law, International Law-Making, the Law of International Organizations. Currently, she is PI of a national research project funded by the Italian Ministry of University Education and Scientific Research on the Immunities of International Organizations. She is the author of a podcast on “The dynamics of international law rules” for the UN Audiovisual Library.