Lunch seminar with Federico Bonito
General Principles of Law as Applied by International Administrative Tribunal between Contaminations and Cross-Fertilization
Abstract
The proliferation of international administrative tribunals (IATs) represents one of the most relevant challenges for international administrative law (IAL). This may lead IATs to embrace different directions in settling disputes between IOs and their staff members, resulting in fragmentation of the law. Yet a closer examination of the jurisprudence of these tribunals reveals that international administrative judges tend to resolve disputes consistently with the solutions adopted by their counterparts in other IOs. In numerous cases, IATs have adopted decisions based on “general principles of law” and borrowed legal concepts from domestic legal orders or other IATs’ judgments.
Thus, the research analyses how IATs identify and develop principles for adjudicating disputes between IOs and their employees. Specifically, it studies the influences on the determination process of these principles. Firstly, the thesis analyzes how international administrative judges identify norms widespread in domestic legal systems to deduce applicable rules of IAL. At the same time, the research studies how and why IATs exchange with one another to elaborate common practices, interpretations, and arguments based on principles.
The methodology involves a doctrinal reading of decisions issued by the most relevant IATs. However, the inquiry of the IATs exchange will be complemented by an empirical approach aimed at gauging the dialogue between IATs, through the measurement of direct citations and thanks to a linguistic analysis of judicial decisions. The interplay between the doctrinal approach and the empirical methods has been revealed to be useful in the study of international courts and the applications of legal sources. Thus, quantitative findings can then undergo the doctrinal process of systematization aimed at illustrating the content and the functions of general principles recognized by IATs.
Speaker bio
Federico Bonito is a PhD candidate at the University of Roma Tre, Department of Law.
His thesis deals with general principles of law as applied by international administrative tribunals between vertical and horizontal cross-fertilization.
He worked as an intern at the Legal Office of the Joint Force Command Naples (NATO), where he cooperated in the activities of the Mission Appeals Tribunal, an international administrative tribunal established within NATO-led missions.
Meeting ID: 669 3143 8211
Passcode: 821859