TY - RPRT A1 - Krieger, Heike A1 - Zimmermann, Andreas T1 - Sentenza 238/2014 of the Italian Constitutional Court and the International Rule of Law T2 - KFG Working Paper Series N2 - The German-Italian dispute over the scope of sovereign immunities and claims of reparations for war crimes committed by German armed forces during World War II in Italy is in many ways specific and historically contingent. At the same time, it touches upon a number of fundamental challenges which the international community has to address in the interest of furthering the international rule of law. In this working paper both authors address the question whether the current law of sovereign immunities should be changed or interpreted in a manner as to allow for exceptions from State immunities in cases of grave violations of human rights. While the first part of the paper focusses on the perspective of general international law the second part addresses the question through the lense of European law. Both authors agree that unilateral efforts to push for what many consider a progressive development of international law actually may entail adverse effects for the international rule of law and thus may even contribute to a broader crisis of the international legal order. T3 - KFG Working Paper Series - 15 Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-422140 SN - 2509-3770 SN - 2509-3762 IS - 15 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Ulfstein, Geir A1 - Zimmermann, Andreas T1 - Certiorari Through the Backdoor? BT - The Judgment by the European Court of Human Rights in Burmych and Others v. Ukraine in Perspective T2 - KFG Working Paper Series N2 - In its Burmych and Others v. Ukraine judgment of October 2017 the European Court of Human Rights has dismissed more than 12.000 applications due to the fact that given that they were not only repetitive in nature, but also mutatis mutandis identical to applications covered by a previous pilot judgment rendered against Ukraine. This raises fundamental issues as to the role of the Court within the human rights protection system established by the ECHR, as well as those concerning the interrelationship between the Court and the Committee of Ministers. T3 - KFG Working Paper Series - 13 Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-422054 SN - 2509-3770 SN - 2509-3762 IS - 13 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Zimmermann, Andreas A1 - Boos, Felix T1 - Bringing States to Justice for Crimes against Humanity BT - The Compromissory Clause in the ILC Draft Convention on Crimes against Humanity T2 - KFG Working Paper Series N2 - Draft Art. 15 CCAH attempts to strike a balance between State autonomy and robust judicial supervision. It largely follows Article 22 CERD conditioning the jurisdiction of the ICJ on prior negotiations. Hence, the substance of the clause is interpreted in light of the Court’s recent case law, especially Georgia v. Russia. Besides, several issues regarding the scope ratione temporis of the compromissory clause are discussed. The article advances several proposals to further improve the current draft, addressing the missing explicit reference to State responsibility, as well as the relationship between the Court and a possible treaty body, It also proposes to recalibrate the interplay of a requirement of prior negotiations respectively the seizing of a future treaty body on the one hand and provisional measures to be indicated by the Court on the other. T3 - KFG Working Paper Series - 12 Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-422035 SN - 2509-3770 SN - 2509-3762 IS - 12 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Lange, Felix T1 - Between Systematization and Expertise for Foreign Policy BT - The Practice-Oriented Approach in Germany’s International Legal Scholarship (1920–1980) T2 - KFG Working Paper Series N2 - German international legal scholarship has been known for its practice-oriented, doctrinal approach to international law. On the basis of archival material, this article tracks how this methodological take on international law developed in Germany between the 1920s and the 1980s. In 1924, as a reaction to the establishment of judicial institutions in the Treaty of Versailles, the German Reich founded the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. Director Viktor Bruns institutionalized the practice-oriented method to advance the idea of international law as a legal order as well as to safeguard the interests of the Weimar government before the various courts. Under National Socialism, members of the Institute provided legal justifications for Hitler’s increasingly radical foreign policy. At the same time, some of them did not engage with völkisch-racist theories, but systematized the existing ius in bello. After 1945, Hermann Mosler, as director of the renamed Max Planck Institute, took the view that the practice-oriented approach was not as discredited as the more theoretical approach of völkisch international law. Furthermore, he regarded the method as a promising vehicle to support the policy of Westintegration of Konrad Adenauer. Also, he tried to promote the idea of ‘international society as a legal community’ by analysing international practice. T3 - KFG Working Paper Series - 8 Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421895 SN - 2509-3770 SN - 2509-3762 IS - 8 ER -