The international rule of law and its domestic interface

For the past two decades, the concept ‘International Rule of Law’ (hereinafter IROL) has attracted the academic interest of international legal scholars. Its growing importance is an inevitable consequence of the crucial developments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a time in which international law expanded at a high speed. The evolution of the international legal order in the aftermath of the Second World War proved that the rule of law can obtain its international dimension. Transformations of international law since the end of the Cold War reflected the ‘human dimension’ of international law visioning the individual and human dignity as the anchor of the modern international society.1 Universal human rights treaties, international obligations with erga omnes effects or jus cogens status have contributed to the consolidation of rules that are beyond State consent framed as ‘super partes law’.2 Today, international law reflects a scenario of multi-actor global governance due to the indispensable growth of international, regional and national regimes. In particular, regimes such as human rights, criminal law, environment, public health, trade and investment are equally governed by both international and national law reflecting the increasing regulatory power of international law. Simultaneously, international law has testified the exercise of international authority by international political organs such as the United Nations Security Council (hereinafter UNSC) or International Courts. This has led to an overlap of actors, norms, and procedures. This work aims at examining the consolidation of the international rule of law based on the emergence of this concept in the practice of States and through the phenomenon of judicial review at the international level. The first fundamental issue examined by this research is the identification of central components of the rule of law in the practice of States at the international level. By examining what States say on the international dimension of the rule of law, this work explores if there exists a common shared understanding on this concept. In addition, this research takes under consideration decisions issued by international courts in which components of the international rule of law have been invoked. The second fundamental issue is the consolidation of the international rule of law due to the emergence of judicial review at the international level. Judicial review by courts over the acts of public power is considered as an integral part of the domestic rule of law. In particular, at the international level, judicial review arose as a consequence of the overlap of national and international legal regimes. By drawing on the most relevant and recent judicial pronouncements touching upon conflicts and interaction between the international and the domestic dimension of the rule of law, this thesis will examine the emergence of the international rule of law based on the interplay between different legalities.