Shelton D. (ed.) International Law and Domestic Legal Systems: Incorporation, Transformation, and Persuasion

Oxford University Press, 2011. — 749 p. — ISBN: 978–0–19–969490–7Full overview of the formal regime for incorporating international law in different legal systems as well as of relevant domestic case law. Systematic comparison allows the drawing of interesting conclusions about the implementation of international law in 27 key countries. Shows how domestic developments, such as a move towards greater democratization, have influenced international law and vice versa.Different countries incorporate and interpret international law in different ways. This book provides a systematic analysis of the domestic constitutional regime of over two dozen countries, setting out the status accorded to international law in those countries and its normative weight, as well as problems relating to its implementation.This country-by-country comparison allows the book to examine how the international legal order and domestic legal systems interact and influence each other. Through a series of chapters on the role of international law in 27 countries throughout the world, it shows a growing tendency towards greater democratic participation in treaty-making coupled with a significant utilization of informal agreements that by-pass such participation, as well as a role for non-binding normative instruments as persuasive authority in domestic judicial decision-making.
The chapters suggest a stronger attachment to international law in legal systems that have survived a period of repression, resulting in many cases in a higher normative status for international human rights instruments in those states. The impact of the European Union on the constitutional order of its member states is also examined.Readership: Scholars and students of general international law, specifically with regard to the implementation of international law, and of comparative law; practitioners and legal advisers working or interested in the countries under considerationTables of Cases
Tables of Legislation
Tables of Constitutions
Table of International InstrumentsAustralia
Austria
Bangladesh
Canada
China
The Czech Republic
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Israel
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Serbia
Slovakia
South Africa
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Appendix: National Reports Questionnaire