Summary

Abstract

Legal integration and linkage beyond the state are increasing. Manifold international law regimes are gaining importance, and the supranational integration of the European continent is progressing. This coexistence of different legal orders and their interrelation entail competition and conflict. Competing claims of authority make it difficult to identify which rules are paramount and thus apply. Treaties and statutes often leave it to the courts to find answers to the questions following from international legal interaction. Yet not only may the substantive legal issues be resolved differently by different legal systems, but also may these regulate the prior issues of jurisdiction to adjudicate and the extent of legal review inconsistently: the question of quis iudicabit? As a result, the number of conflicts among courts of linked legal orders — which the author names “conflicts of jurisdictions¹ in multi-level systems” — is increasing. These conflicts jeopardise integration in those multi-level systems as they lower confidence, induce dysfunction and may produce conflicting obligations for the states involved. This thesis analyses conflicts of jurisdictions in multi-level systems in a general manner and, based on the examination of precedents, it develops a universal model de lege lata as a response to such conflicts. The results of the analysis can be summarized as follows:²

In this thesis, this refers only to jurisdiction to adjudicate.

Numbers refer to chapters of the book.