Book Launch: Irresolvable Norm Conflicts in International Law

On 10 October 2017, Valentin Jeutner will present his recently published book, "Irresolvable Norm Conflicts in International Law" (OUP 2017), in the Great Hall of Justice at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

While international legal scholarship conventionally focusses on resolving norm conflicts, this book adopts a different approach. It focuses on identifying those norm conflicts that law cannot and should not resolve. The book offers a novel argument in favour of construing such irresolvable conflicts as legal dilemmas. Legal dilemmas exist when a legal actor confronts a conflict between at least two legal norms that cannot be avoided or resolved. Addressing both academics and practitioners, the book aims to identify the character and consequences of legal dilemmas, to distil their legal function within the sphere of international law, and to encourage serious theoretical and practical investigation into the conditions that lead to a legal dilemma.