Transplanting International Courts The Law and Politics of the Andean Tribunal of Justice

by Alter, Karen J.; Helfer, Laurence R.

• ISBN13: 9780199680788
• ISBN10: 0199680787
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2017-05-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Transplanting International Courts provides a deep, systematic investigation of the most active and successful transplant of the European Court of Justice. The Andean Tribunal is effective by any plausible definition of the term, but only in the domain of intellectual property law. Alter and Helfer explain how the Andean Tribunal established its legal authority within and beyond this intellectual property island, and how Andean judges have navigated moments of both transnational political consensus and political contestation over the goals and objectives of regional economic integration. By letting member states set the pace and scope of Andean integration, by condemning unequivocal violations of Andean rules, and by allowing for the coexistence of national legislation and supranational authority, the Tribunal has retained its fidelity to Andean law while building relationships with nationally-based administrative agencies, lawyers, and judges. Yet the Tribunal's circumspect and formalist approach means that, unlike in Europe, Community law is not an engine of integration. The Tribunal's strategy has also limited its influence within the Andean legal system.

Transplanting International Courts also revists the authors' path-breaking scholarship on the effectiveness of international adjudication. Alter and Helfer argue that the European Court of Justice benefitted in underappreciated ways from the support of jurist advocacy movements that are absent or poorly organized in the Andes and elsewhere in the world. The Andean Tribunal's longevity despite these and other challenges offers guidance for international courts in other developing country contexts. Moreover, given that the Andean Community has weathered member state withdrawals and threats of exit, major economic and political crises, and the retrenchment of core policies such as the common external tariff, the Andean experience offers timely and important lessons for Europe's international courts.

Author Biography

Karen J. Alter, Professor of Political Science and Law, Northwestern University,Laurence R. Helfer, Harry R. Chadwick Sr. Professor of Law, Duke University

Karen J. Alter is Professor of Political Science and Law at Northwestern University, specializing in the international politics of international organizations and international law. Alter is author of The European Court's Political Power (Oxford University Press, 2009), Establishing the Supremacy of European Law (Oxford University Press, 2001) and numerous articles and book chapters on the politics of international courts and international law. She is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on International Adjudication (Oxford University Press, 2013) and has published in the American Journal of International Law, International Organization, Comparative Political Studies, Perspectives on Politics, European Journal of International Relations, European Law Journal, Law and Contemporary Problems, Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Journal of International Law and Politics, and European Union Politics.

Laurence R. Helfer is co-director of Duke Law School's Center for International and Comparative Law and a Senior Fellow with Duke University's Kenan Institute for Ethics. Helfer was previously a professor of law and director of the International Legal Studies Program at Vanderbilt University Law School. He has also taught at Harvard Law School, Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, Princeton University, the University of Chicago Law School, and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He is a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law and the Journal of World Intellectual Property.

Table of Contents

Part I: Supranational Legal Transplants
1. What We Can Learn From the Andean Tribunal of Justice
2. Transplanting the European Court of Justice: The Experience of the Andean Tribunal of Justice
Part II: Law and Politics in the Andean Tribunal of Justice
3. Legal Integration in the Andes: Law-Making by the Andean Tribunal of Justice
4. The Andean Tribunal of Justice and its Interlocutors: Understanding Preliminary Reference Patterns in the Andean Community
5. Islands of Effective International Adjudication: Constructing an Intellectual Property Rule of Law in the Andean Community
6. Navigating Fraught Political Terrains: Four Case Studies
Part III: The European Court of Justice Reconsidered in Light of the Andean Experience
7. Nature or Nurture? Judicial Lawmaking in the European Court of Justice and the Andean Tribunal of Justice
8. Transnational Jurist Advocacy Networks: A Comparison Between the ECJ and the Andean Tribunal of Justice
9. Reconsidering What Makes International Courts Effective