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This above all—to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.Hamlet, 1.3.78On two occasions in the recent past, the International Court of Justice has misstated its own prior holdings by selective quotation. In each instance, the partial quotation was invoked as authority for the opposite of what the previous Court had said. Neither matter was de minimis: in each instance, the issue for which authority was being sought was central either to the case at bar or to an important aspect of the Court's role. The consequences for the future of international adjudication and the stability of authoritative expectation, which is such an important strut of international law, are serious and merit examination.

This article presents an analysis of the way that profit-making corporations have sought human rights protections in the following two regional human rights courts: the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It seeks to deepen our understanding of a controversial principle in that corporations can claim protections as 'legal persons'. After exploring precisely how and why each of those regional systems have accepted claims for human rights protections by corporations and their shareholders, the article then develops an analysis of what the way that the regional human rights courts have carefully weighed their decisions implies more broadly about the prospects for human rights law to exhibit either system-threatening or system-preserving tendencies. The article then concludes by setting out a general principle of social ordering that underpins the decisions made in human rights courts.

Abstract: This article argues that direct commonwealth involvement in road funding and road policy has benefited the states and local government. Although inefficiencies and friction are evident as a result of joint funding, the benefits of multiple accountability outweigh the costs. A competitive dynamic underlies the involvement of all three levels of government, producing outcomes that no single government dominates, but which reflect in part the responses of each to their respective constituencies. The commonwealth has been driven to more intrusive forms of intervention as existing controls failed to achieve the commonwealth's objectives, and to expanding its financial contributions to counter the diversion of funds by state governments. Its commitment to funding the road program is likely to be highest when its specific purpose grants can be identified closely with the provision of roads in particular regions and localities. In sum, joint funding of the road program produces a system that is responsive to competing conceptions and interests, and the commonwealth's "voluntary vacancy" from all but "national" roads is on balance likely to be detrimental to the program.

This research aims to assess the effectiveness of the EU audit function in public procurement. It provides a systematic analysis of reported procurement errors over time as irregularities arising from non-compliance with legal and administrative provisions. It also covers any further audit observation issued on the subject. The investigation addresses the results of the European Court of Auditors' (ECA) audits on procurement expenditure from the financial year 1977 to 2018. In particular, the investigation focuses on the procurement expenditure under the European Structural and Investment Funds (the ESIF). Thus, the subject of the thesis brings together two fields, auditing, and public procurement, under a historical approach. Both audits and legislation involved are longstanding, as the European Court of Auditors was created by the Second Budgetary Treaty, signed in 1975, and EU public procurement legislation dates back to the 1960s when various legal acts were adopted. ; Esta investigación tiene como objetivo evaluar la eficacia de la función de auditoría de la UE en la contratación pública. Proporciona un análisis sistemático de los errores de contratación notificados a lo largo del tiempo como irregularidades derivadas del incumplimiento de las disposiciones legales y administrativas. También cubre cualquier observación de auditoría adicional emitida sobre el tema. La investigación aborda los resultados de las auditorías del Tribunal de Cuentas Europeo (TCE) sobre los gastos de contratación desde el ejercicio financiero de 1977 a 2018. En particular, la investigación se centra en los gastos de contratación en el marco de los Fondos Estructurales y de Inversión Europeos (Fondos EIE). Así, el tema de la tesis aglutina dos campos, la auditoría y la contratación pública, bajo un enfoque histórico. Tanto las auditorías como la legislación involucrada son de larga data, ya que el Tribunal de Cuentas Europeo fue creado por el Segundo Tratado Presupuestario, firmado en 1975, y la legislación de contratación pública de la UE se remonta a la década de 1960 cuando se adoptaron varios actos legales. ; Aquesta investigació té com a objectiu avaluar l'eficàcia de la funció d'auditoria de la UE en la contractació pública. Ofereix una anàlisi sistemàtica dels errors de contractació notificats al llarg del temps com a irregularitats derivades de l'incompliment de les disposicions legals i administratives. També cobreix qualsevol altra observació d'auditoria emesa sobre el tema. La investigació aborda els resultats de les auditories del Tribunal de Comptes Europeu (CEA) sobre les despeses de contractació de l'exercici 1977 al 2018. En particular, la investigació se centra en les despeses de contractació dels Fons Estructurals i d'Inversió Europeus (FSEI). Per tant, el tema de la tesi reuneix dos camps, l'auditoria i la contractació pública, sota un enfocament històric. Tant les auditories com la legislació en qüestió són de llarga data, ja que el Tribunal de Comptes europeu va ser creat pel Segon Tractat Pressupostari, signat el 1975, i la legislació de contractació pública de la UE es remunta als anys seixanta, quan es van adoptar diversos actes jurídics.

It is commonplace to say that the Court has not lived up to the expectations expressed at its creation, although it could also be said that the governments in and out of the United Nations have not lived up to those expectations. In presenting the Statute of the Court to the Fourth Commission at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, the Rapporteur of its First Committee said that the Committee "ventures to foresee a significant role for the new Court in the international relations of the future." He went on to say: "The judicial process will have a central place in the plans of the United Nations for the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means."

ABSTRACT: The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is the most important international treaty to protect fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms at European level. The Convention was adopted on November 4, 1950 in Rome by the governments of the member states at that time of the Council of Europe. Currently all 47 members of the Council of Europe, international European organization founded in 1949 in Strasbourg, France, are party to the Convention. The implementation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments is supervised by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers (CM), according to article 46 para 2 of the ECHR. Beyond the primary responsibility of the CM in this field, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) increased significantly its contribution to this process during the past 10-15 years. Its 10th report on the implementation of ECtHR judgments focuses on a number of member states and cases pending before the CM still to be implemented, that reveals structural problems, complex and difficult issues related for instance to inter-State cases or individual cases displaying inter-State features reflecting particular difficulties for the execution process, sometimes for already more than 10 years after the Court's judgments. The PACE report addresses therefore a number of specific requests and recommendations to the member states and the CM for supporting an accelerated process for the full implementation of these judgments. KEYWORDS: Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe, European Convention on Human Rights, Court, judgments, execution, structural problems

E-commerce and information society services became part of the quotidian language of the European institutions in the mid-1990s, as the European institutions gazed into a crystal ball wherein electronic commerce would further the competitiveness of the internal market. Gradually increasing volumes of customers began to purchase goods and services via the internet, reflecting the development by undertakings of the internet as a sales channel and also due to the regulation of such transactions. Concurrently the internet can be characterised by its tendency to bring market actors closer together, and the case of DocMorris, concerning the sale of medicinal products via the internet, has been described as constituting an instance whereby the technological revolution which the internet embodies has "well and truly reached the doors" of the Court of Justice.

National high courts in the European Union (EU) are constantly challenged: the European Court of Justice (ECJ) claims the authority to declare national standing interpretations invalid should it find them incompatible with its views on EU law. This principle noticeably impairs the formerly undisputed sovereignty of national high courts. In addition, preliminary references empower lower courts to question interpretations established by their national 'superiors'. Assuming that courts want to protect their own interests, the article presumes that national high courts develop strategies to elude the breach of their standing interpretations. Building on principal-agent theory, the article proposes that national high courts can use the level of (im-) precision in the wording of the ECJ's judgements to continue applying their own interpretations. The article develops theoretical strategies for national high courts in their struggle for authority.