The Function of Equity in International Law
If you wish to participate in this (remote) seminar, RSVP is necessary. Please complete the form before noon Wednesday 3 November (please note that if you register after noon, a link cannot be sent to you). Prior to the Thursday seminar, you will be sent a zoom link to join.
The presentation will draw on the book The Function of Equity in International Law (Oxford University Press 2021). The book provides a systematic and comprehensive study of the legal concept of equity as it operates in contemporary international law. A principle with a long pedigree, equity has been present in legal thought and in municipal legal systems since antiquity. Introduced in international legal decisions through claims commissions and arbitral tribunals, equity became progressively part and parcel of the international law mainstream. From international cultural heritage law to the law on climate change, from maritime boundary delimitations to decisions on security for costs in investment arbitration, the relevance of equity is more far-reaching than has previously been acknowledged. In contrast with earlier studies on the topic, this book is informed by a body of judicial and arbitral case law that has never been so substantial and varied. It also draws extensively on the prolific case law of investment tribunals, gaining insights from a valuable source that is typically overlooked in public international law scholarship. As the importance of international law increases, covering continuously new domains, the value of equity increases with it. It is this new equity in the international law of the 21st century that this book explores.
Catharine Titi, Dr iur., FCIArb, is a tenured Research Associate Professor at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)–CERSA, University Paris II Panthéon-Assas, France. In addition to being a member of the Board of the European Society of International Law (ESIL), she serves as a Deputy Chair on the Steering Committee of the Academic Forum on ISDS, whose work contributes to the discussions in Working Group III of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL WG III), and on the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) of the Center for American and International Law (CAIL). She is a member of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on Rule of Law and International Investment Law and she serves on the Editorial Board of the Yearbook on International Investment Law & Policy (Columbia/OUP). Catharine is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), she sits on the panel of arbitrators of the Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA), and she is appointed to the roster of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s (USMCA) Annex 31-B panellists. She holds a PhD from the University of Siegen in Germany (Summa cum laude, Rolf H. Brunswig PhD Prize) and she has previously been a consultant at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In 2016, Catharine was awarded the prestigious Smit-Lowenfeld Prize of the International Arbitration Club of New York for the best article published in the field of international arbitration. Catharine’s working languages are English, French, Greek, and Spanish.
__Due to the current public health emergency, the PIL Discussion Group series for 2021-2022 for Michaelmas Term will be held online. RSVP is necessary for each event and a link to the Form will be available each week. The link will be provided in each event listed below and prior to the seminar, you will be sent a link to join the discussion. Please note that if you complete the form after the deadline of noon each Wednesday, you will not receive the link to join.
PIL Discussion Group Convenor: Natasha Holcroft-Emmes