Abstract
Are there discernable the outlines of an emergent global economic constitutional order? If the current global scene is understood as hybrid and plural, there will be no single, unitary global economic constitution in place at the present moment. There only will be partial manifestations—observable, regime-specific instances—of what might become part of such a global order. Regime specific instances can be found, for instance, in the domain of international investment law. Though there is variation among the web of 2800 bilateral investment treaties, there are sufficient commonalities that will be familiar to constitutional lawyers. It also is apparent that the body of jurisprudence produced by investment tribunals resembles, in some important ways, the output of high court decision making under national constitutional law. The paper begins by outlining two principal modes of understanding global constitutional developments, identifies some familiar constitutional tropes found in investment law, and closes with a discussion, by way of illustration, of an investor’s claim, unresolved on the merits, that resembles an early nineteenth century US constitutional dispute concerning the sanctity of contracts.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Kennedy (2009), p. 40.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
Kennedy (2009), p. 40.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
Cass (2005), p. 19.
- 9.
Cass (2005), p. 23.
- 10.
- 11.
Walker (2002), p. 355.
- 12.
Howse and Nicolaïdis (2001), p. 229.
- 13.
Dunoff (2006), p. 675.
- 14.
For the purposes of this essay, I do not distinguish between notions of ‘constitutional law’, ‘constitutionalism’, and ‘constitutionalization’. For a parsing of these terms, see Peters (2006).
- 15.
I am operating here under the influence of Pierre Bourdieu. See, for instance, Bourdieu (2000), p. 71.
- 16.
Dezalay and Garth (1996), p. 91.
- 17.
Sell (2003), p. 163.
- 18.
Büthe and Walter (2011), p. 221.
- 19.
For a discussion situating this approach to post-national constitutionalism, see Anderson (2012).
- 20.
I am grateful to Gavin Anderson for this point. For a more general discussion of constitutionalism as critique, see Anderson (2014).
- 21.
Kennedy (2009), p. 61.
- 22.
Twining (1993).
- 23.
Schneiderman (2008), p. 4.
- 24.
Peters (2006), p. 582.
- 25.
Also Twining (2000), p. 89.
- 26.
See e.g. Kurtz (2009).
- 27.
As does Krisch (2012).
- 28.
Walker (2002), p. 337.
- 29.
Colley, L ‘Written Constitutions and Writing World History’ Margaret MacMillan Lecture in International Relations, University of Toronto, 4 April 2013 [unpublished].
- 30.
de Sousa Santos (2006).
- 31.
Weiss (2005).
- 32.
We should attend, in other words, to the complex ways in which power operates. See, for instance, the three-dimensional view of power in Lukes (2005), p. 25–29.
- 33.
Teubner (2012).
- 34.
Peters (2006).
- 35.
Habermas (2006), p. 83.
- 36.
The phrase is from Stepan (2001).
- 37.
Habermas (2006), p. 81.
- 38.
Schneiderman (2013). Thornhill’s proposal that rights regimes generate de facto constituent power that can legitimate law-making authority at transnational levels is intended to elide this problem. See Thornhill (2013), p. 555. The problem is that this looks like a version of constitutionalism without a demos that can be likened to earlier practices of imperialism. On this, see Newton (2006).
- 39.
- 40.
Dezalay (1990).
- 41.
Borchard (1915).
- 42.
Neo-liberalism’s curse, Peck observes, “has been that it can live neither with, nor without the state” in Peck (2008), p. 25.
- 43.
Both Michel Foucault, in his discussion of the origins of modern neoliberalism, and Christian Joerges, in his discussion of the European model of governance, have resuscitated an interest in the mid-war economic and legal thought of the Freiburg school. See Foucault (2008), Joerges (2005). Crouch, by contrast, denies that ordoliberalism “realistically describes today’s economy” in Crouch (2011), p. 165.
- 44.
- 45.
Muchlinski, P (2011) Corporations and the Uses of Law: International Investment Arbitration as a ‘Multilateral Legal Order.’ Oñati Socio-Legal Series. 1 (4), http://ssrn.com/abstract=1832562 (last accessed 24 May 2015).
- 46.
Schneiderman (2010a), p. 383.
- 47.
- 48.
For example, Bolivia, Ecuador, South Africa and, for a time, Australia. See discussion in Schneiderman (2013).
- 49.
Or a ‘mirror comparator’ in Methanex Corp. v. USA, UNCITRAL, Final Award of the Tribunal on Jurisdiction and Merits, 3 August 2005, 44 ILM 1345–1464 (2005).
- 50.
S.D. Myers, Inc. v. Government of Canada, UNCITRAL, Partial Award, 13 November 2000, 40 ILM 1408 (2001).
- 51.
E.g. ‘all exporters’ in Occidental Exploration and Production Company v. Ecuador, UNCITRAL LCIA Case No UN3467, Final Award, 1 July 2004, 43 ILM 1248 (2004).
- 52.
Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia (1989) 1 SCR 143.
- 53.
See Withler v. Canada (Attorney General) (2011) 1 SCR.
- 54.
Wild (1939), p. 10.
- 55.
Schneiderman (2008), ch. 2.
- 56.
Ziff (2005) and Mariner Real Estate Ltd. v. Nova Scotia (Attorney General) (1999) 68 LCR 1 (NSCA).
- 57.
Schneiderman (1996).
- 58.
Chemtura Corporation v Canada Award, Ad hoc—UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules (2 August 2010).
- 59.
Chemtura Corporation v Canada Award, Ad hoc—UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules (2 August 2010), p. 266.
- 60.
Other cases only hinted at its availability. See Lévesque (2011), p. 427, fn. 93. The Methanex case (Methanex Corp. v. USA, UNCITRAL, Final Award of the Tribunal on Jurisdiction and Merits, 3 August 2005, 44 ILM 1345–1464 (2005)) might be interpreted as having vindicated the exercise of police power jurisdiction in the state of California, but the tribunal did not use that term. Nor does the tribunal’s reasoning resemble the structure of analysis associated with the exercise of police powers jurisdiction. Instead, the tribunal was focused on ‘method,’ namely, whether the state was intentionally targeting Methanex. On the tribunal’s focus on method, see Paparinskis (2011), who does not, curiously, acknowledge that police powers jurisdiction plays a role in the regulatory expropriation jurisprudence.
- 61.
- 62.
Parvanov and Kantor (2012), p. 779.
- 63.
Schneiderman (2013), pp. 81–83.
- 64.
Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City (1977) 438 US 104, p. 124.
- 65.
United States Trade Representative [USTR] (2014) The Facts on Investor-State Dispute Settlement. Tradewinds: The Official Blog of the United States Trade Representative (March), https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/blog/2014/March/Facts-Investor-State%20Dispute-Settlement-Safeguarding-Public-Interest-Protecting-Investors (last accessed 23 May 2015).
- 66.
Penny Pritzker, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, interviewed by Al Hunt on “Charlie Rose” (airing on PBS 11 May 2015), http://www.charlierose.com/watch/60560245 (last accessed 24 May 2015) and Miller S, Hicks G, Investor-State Dispute Settlement: A Reality Check. A Report of the CSIS Scholl Chair in International Business, January 2015, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield/CSIS, http://csis.org/files/publication/150116_Miller_InvestorStateDispute_Web.pdf (last accessed 16 June 2015), p. 4. A better explanation for this record, discounting the unmeritorious claims, is that arbitrators are acting strategically so as to dampen blowback from the U.S. Congress. See discussion in Schneiderman (2010a).
- 67.
Emmott, B, A Survey of Capitalism and Democracy: Liberty’s Great Advance. The Economist, 28 June 2003, p. 4.
- 68.
CMS Gas Transmission Company v. The Republic of Argentina, Award. ICSID Case No. ARB/01/08, ILM 44, 1205-63, 12 May 2005, para. 267.
- 69.
CMS Gas Transmission Company v. The Republic of Argentina, Award. ICSID Case No. ARB/01/08, ILM 44, 1205-63, 12 May 2005, para. 161.
- 70.
- 71.
Spector (2008), p. 141.
- 72.
Smith, Carlos Antonio v. PE.N./medidas cautelares (2002) CSJN, 1/2/2002, Fallos (2002-325-28).
- 73.
Provincia de San Luis v. Estado Nacional/amparo (2003) CSJN, 5/3/2003, Fallos (2003-326-417).
- 74.
Spector (2008), p. 140.
- 75.
The Court reverted to its prior stance in Bustos, Alberto Roque v. Estadio Nacionale/amapro (2005) CSJN, 26/10/2004, J.A. (2005-III-189).
- 76.
CMS Gas Transmission Company v. The Republic of Argentina, Award. ICSID Case No. ARB/01/08, ILM 44, 1205-63, 12 May 2005, para. 215.
- 77.
The investor declined to waive any claim for damages in U.S. courts while also seeking damages on similar grounds before an investment tribunal.
- 78.
See Ballotpedia, http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Michigan_International_Bridge_Initiative,_Proposal_6_(2012) (last accessed 1 July 2015).
- 79.
Detroit International Bride Company v Canada (2013) Amended Notice of Arbitration, PCA Case No. 2012-25 (15 January 2013).
- 80.
Detroit International Bride Company v Canada Amended Notice of Arbitration, PCA Case No. 2012-25, 15 January 2013.
- 81.
U.S. Constitution of 1787, section 10, ¶ 1.
- 82.
Generally, see Kutler (1971).
- 83.
Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 518, p. 628. Compare Providence Bank v. Billings (1830) 4 Peters 514.
- 84.
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge (1837) 36 U.S. 420, p. 546.
- 85.
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge (1837) 36 U.S. 420, p. 607.
- 86.
Stone Sweet (2010).
- 87.
Kingsbury B, Schill S (2009) Investor-State Arbitration as Governance: Fair and Equitable Treatment, Proportionality and the Emerging Global Administrative Law. International Law and Justice Working Paper 2009/6, http://www.iilj.org/publications/documents/2009-6.KingsburySchill.pdf (last accessed 1 July 2015), p. 50; also Kingsbury and Schill (2010) and Schill (2012).
- 88.
Stone Sweet (2010), p. 68.
- 89.
Kingsbury B, Schill S (2009) Investor-State Arbitration as Governance: Fair and Equitable Treatment, Proportionality and the Emerging Global Administrative Law. International Law and Justice Working Paper 2009/6, http://www.iilj.org/publications/documents/2009-6.KingsburySchill.pdf (last accessed 1 July 2015), p. 52.
- 90.
Kingsbury B, Schill S (2009) Investor-State Arbitration as Governance: Fair and Equitable Treatment, Proportionality and the Emerging Global Administrative Law. International Law and Justice Working Paper 2009/6, http://www.iilj.org/publications/documents/2009-6.KingsburySchill.pdf (last accessed 1 July 2015), p. 40.
- 91.
- 92.
Schneiderman (2011), pp. 491–494. In the period 1994–2010, I identified a total of 23 decisions where proportionality was mentioned expressly or impliedly in tribunal decisions. Of these, in only 13 decisions did tribunals approvingly invoke proportionality analysis in discussing the law and, of these, only eight tribunals applied some semblance of a proportionality analysis, p. 491.
- 93.
Krommendijk and Morijn (2009), p. 444.
- 94.
Leonhardsen (2012), p. 124. Perrone calls this a ‘double check’ on whether there has been a compensable event in Perrone, N (2013) The International Investment Regime and Foreign Investors’ Rights: Another View of a Popular Story. A thesis submitted to the Department of Law of the London School of Economics for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, September 2013, http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/776/1/Perrone_International_Investment_Regime.pdf (last accessed 15 June 2015), p. 240. Another problem with Tecmed: (Tecnicas Medioambientales Tecmed SA v. United Mexican States, ICSID Case No ARB(AF)/00/2, Final Award, 29 May 2003, 43 ILM 133 (2004)) the tribunal considered that public protests could not be reconciled with the impact on investor rights, deliberately ignoring the environmental considerations that prompted those protests. On this, see Guntrip, E (2014) International Human Rights Law, Investment Arbitration and Proportionality Analysis: Panacea or Pandora’s Box? EJIL: Talk! 7 January 2014, http://www.ejiltalk.org/international-human-rights-law-investment-arbitration-and-proportionality-analysis-panacea-or-pandoras-box/ (last accessed 15 June 2015).
- 95.
Cohen-Eliya and Porat (2013), pp. 12–13.
- 96.
Lazzarato (2012), p. 7.
- 97.
- 98.
Waldron (2012), p. 72.
- 99.
Streeck (2011), p. 28.
- 100.
Underkuffler (2003).
References
Alston P (2002) Resisting the merger and acquisition of human rights by trade law: a reply to Petersmann. Euro J Int Law 13:815–844
Alvarez J, Brink T (2012) The Argentine crisis and foreign investors: a glimpse into the heart of the investment regime. Yearb Int Invest Law Pol 2010–2011:319–362
Anderson G (2012) Beyond ‘constitutionalism beyond the state’. J Law Soc 39:359–383
Anderson G (2014) Constitutionalism as critical project: the epistemological challenge to politics. In: Gill S, Cutler C (eds) New constitutionalism and world order. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 281–294
Been V, Beauvais JC (2003) The global fifth amendment? NAFTA’s investment protections and the misguided quest for an international “regulatory takings” doctrine. N Y Univ Law Rev 78:30–143
Borchard E (1915) The diplomatic protection of citizens abroad or the law of international claims. The Banks Law Publishing, New York
Bourdieu P (2000) Pascalian meditations. (trans. R. Nice), Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA
Büthe T, Walter M (2011) The new global rulers: the privatization of regulation in the world economy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Cass D (2005) The constitutionalization of the World Trade Organization: legitimacy, democracy, and community in the international trading system. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Cohen-Eliya M, Porat I (2013) Proportionality and constitutional culture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Crouch C (2011) The strange non-death of neo-liberalism. Polity, Cambridge
Curtin D (1993) The constitutional structure of the union: a Europe of bits and pieces. Common Mark Law Rev 30:17–69
Dardot P, Laval C (2013) The new way of the world: on neo-liberal society. Verso, London
de Sousa SB (2002) Toward a new legal common sense: law, globalization and emancipation, 2nd edn. Routledge, New York
de Sousa SB (2006) The rise of the global left: the world social forum and beyond. Zed Books, London
Dezalay Y (1990) The big bang and the law: the internationalization and restructuration of the legal field. Theor Cult Soc 7:279–293
Dezalay Y, Garth B (1996) Dealing in virtue: international commercial arbitration and the construction of a transnational legal order. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Dunoff J (2006) Constitutional conceits: The WTO’s “constitution” and the discipline of international law. Eur J Int L 17:647–675
Dunoff J, Trachtman J (2009a) A functional approach to international constitutionalization. In: Dunhoff J, Trachtman J (eds) Ruling the world? constitutionalism, international law and global governance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 3–35
Dunoff J, Trachtman J (eds) (2009b) Ruling the world? constitutionalism, international law and global governance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Foucault M (2008) The birth of biopolitics: lectures at the College de France, 1978–1979. Trans. Burchell G. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills
Habermas J (2006) Euroscepticism, market Europe, or a Europe of (world) citizens. In: Habermas J, Time of transitions. Trans. Cronin C, Pensky M. Polity Press, Cambridge
Howse R, Nicolaïdis K (2001) Legitimacy and global governance: why constitutionalizing the WTO is a step too far. In: Porter RB, Sauvé P, Subramanian A, Zampetti AB (eds) Efficiency, equity, legitimacy: the multilateral trading system at the millennium. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC, pp 227–252
Joerges C (2005) What is left of the European economic constitution? a melancholic eulogy. Eur Law Rev 30:461–489
Johnston L, Volkov O (2013) Investor-state contracts, host-state “commitments” and the myth of stability in international law. Am Rev Int Arb 24:361–415
Kennedy D (2009) The mystery of global governance. In: Dunhoff J, Trachtman J (eds) Ruling the world? constitutionalism, international law and global governance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 37–68
Kingsbury B, Schill S (2010) Public law concepts to balance investors’ rights with state regulatory actions in the public interest—the concept of proportionality. In: Schill S (ed) International Investment Law and Comparative Public Law. Oxford University Press, New York
Krisch N (2012) The case for pluralism in postnational Law. In: de Búrca G, Weiler J (eds) The worlds of European constitutionalism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 203–261
Krommendijk J, Morijn J (2009) ‘Proportional’ by what measure(s)? Balancing investor interests and human rights by way of applying the proportionality principle in investor-state arbitration. In: Dupuy PM, Petersmann EU, Francioni F (eds) Human rights in international investment law and arbitration. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 422–451
Kurtz J (2009) The use and abuse of WTO Law in investor–state arbitration: competition and its discontents. Eur J Int Law 20:749–771
Kutler S (1971) Privilege and creative destruction: the Charles River bridge case. J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia
Lazzarato M (2012) The making of indebted man: an essay on the neoliberal condition. Semiotext(e), Los Angeles
Leonhardsen EM (2012) Looking for legitimacy: exploring proportionality analysis in investment treaty arbitration. J Int Dispute Settl 3:95–136
Lévesque C (2011) Investment and water resources: limits to NAFTA. In: Segger MC, Gehring M, Newcombe A (eds) Sustainable development in world investment law. Kluwer Law International, The Netherlands, pp 409–428
Lukes S (2005) Power: a radical view, 2nd edn. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
Newton S (2006) Constitutionalism and imperialism sub specie spinozae. Law Crit 17:325–355
Paparinskis M (2011) Regulatory expropriation and sustainable development. In: Segger MC, Gehring M, Newcombe A (eds) Sustainable development in world investment Law. Kluwer Law International, The Netherlands, pp 295–328
Parvanov P, Kantor M (2012) Comparing U.S. law and recent U.S. investment agreements. Yearbook on International Investment Law & Policy 2010–2011. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 741–836
Peck J (2008) Remaking laissez-faire. Prog Hum Geogr 32:3–43
Peters A (2006) Compensatory constitutionalism: the function and potential of fundamental international norms and structures. Leiden J Int Law 19:579–610
Petersmann EU (1991) Constitutional functions and constitutional problems of international economic law. University Press/Westview Press, Fribourg Switzerland/Boulder
Petersmann EU (1992) National constitutions, foreign trade policy and European community law. Eur J Int Law 3:1–35
Petersmann EU (2000) The WTO constitution and human rights. J Int Econ Law 3:19–25
Petersmann EU (2012) International economic law in the 21st century: constitutional pluralism and multilevel governance of interdependent public goods. Hart, Oxford
Petersmann EU (2013) Human rights require “cosmopolitan constitutionalism” and cosmopolitan law for democratic governance of public goods. Contemp Read Law Soc Justice 5:90–119
Petersmann EU (2014) Need for a new philosophy of international economic law and adjudication. J Int Econ Law 7:639–669
Schill S (2012) Cross regime harmonization through proportionality analysis: the case of international investment law, the law of state immunity and human rights. ICSID Rev 27:87–119
Schneiderman D (1996) NAFTA’s takings rule: American constitutionalism comes to Canada. Univ Toronto Law J 46:499–537
Schneiderman D (2008) Constitutionalizing economic globalization: investment rules and democracy’s promise. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Schneiderman D (2010a) Judicial politics and international investment arbitration: seeking an explanation for conflicting outcomes. Northwestern J Int Law Bus 30:383–416
Schneiderman D (2010b) A new global constitutional order? In: Dixon R, Ginsburg T (eds) Research handbook on comparative constitutional law. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp 189–207
Schneiderman D (2011) Legitimacy and reflexivity in international investment arbitration: a new self-restraint? J Int Dispute Settl 2:471–495
Schneiderman D (2013) Resisting economic globalization: critical theory and international investment law. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
Schneiderman D (2014) Compensating for democracy’s “defects”: the case of international investment law. In: Joerges C, Glinski C (eds) The European crisis and transformation of European governance: authoritarian managerialism versus democratic governance. Hart, Oxford, pp 47–70
Sell S (2003) Private power, public law: the globalization of intellectual property rights. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Sornarajah M (2008) A coming crisis: expansionary trends in investment treaty arbitration. In: Sauvant K, Cheswick-Patterson M (eds) Appeals mechanism in international investment disputes. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 39–77
Spector H (2008) Constitutional transplants and the mutation effect. Chicago-Kent Law Rev 83:129–145
Stepan A (2001) Arguing comparative politics. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 315–361
Stone Sweet A (2010) Investor-state arbitration: proportionality’s new frontier. Law Ethics Hum Rights 4:47–76
Stone Sweet A, Matthews J (2008) Proportionality balancing and global constitutionalism. Columia J Transnat Law 47:72–164
Streeck W (2011) The crises of democratic capitalism. New Left Rev 71:5–29
Teubner G (2012) Constitutional fragments: societal constitutionalism and globalization. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Thornhill C (2013) A sociology of constituent power: the political code of transnational societal constitutions. Ind J Global Legal Stud 20:551–603
Twining W (1993) Constitutions, constitutionalism, and constitution-mongering. In: Stotzky I (ed) Transition to democracy in Latin America: the role of the judiciary. Westview Press, Boulder, pp 383–391
Twining W (2000) Globalisation and legal theory. Butterworths, London
Underkuffler L (2003) The idea of property: its meaning and power. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Vanberg V (1998) Freiburg school of law and economics. In: Newman P (ed) The new Palgrave dictionary of economics and the law, vol 2. Macmillan, London, pp 172–179
Waldron J (2012) The rule of law and the measure of property. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Walker N (2002) The idea of constitutional pluralism. Modern Law Rev 65:317–359
Weiss L (2005) Global governance, national strategies: how industrialized states make room to move under the WTO. Rev Int Polit Econ 12:723–749
Wild P Jr (1939) International law and Mexican oil. Q J Inter-Am Relat 1:5–21
Yackee J (2008) Bilateral investment treaties, credible commitment, and the rule of (international) law: do BITs promote foreign direct investment? Law Soc Rev 42:805–831
Ziff B (2005) Taking liberties: protections for private property in Canada. In: Cooke E (ed) Modern studies in property law, vol III. Hart, Oregon, pp 341–360
Zumbansen P (2013) Lochner disembedded: the anxieties of law in a global context. Ind J Global Legal Stud 20:29–69
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schneiderman, D. (2016). Global Constitutionalism and International Economic Law: The Case of International Investment Law. In: Bungenberg, M., Herrmann, C., Krajewski, M., Terhechte, J. (eds) European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2016. European Yearbook of International Economic Law, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29215-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29215-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29214-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29215-1
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)