Given recent seismic upheavals in the world's money markets, an updated edition of an authoritative, reliable textbook on the international law of foreign investment has rarely been so timely. Sornarajah's classic text surveys how international law has developed to protect foreign investments by multinational actors and to control any misconduct on their part. It analyses treaty-based methods, examining the effectiveness of bilateral and regional investment treaties. It also considers the reverse flow of investments from emerging industrialising powers such as China and Brazil and explores the retreat from market oriented economics to regulatory controls. By offering thought-provoking analysis of not only the law, but related developments in economics and political sciences, Sornarajah gives immediacy and relevance to the discipline. This book is required reading for all postgraduate and undergraduate international law students specialising in the law of foreign investments.

We can only claim to understand another legal system when we know the context surrounding the positive law in which lawyers are trained. To avoid ethnocentricity and superficiality, we must go beyond judicial decisions, doctrinal writings and the black-letter law of codes and statutes and probe the 'deeper structures' where law meets cultural, political, socio-economic factors. It is only when we acquire such awareness and knowledge of the critical factors affecting both the backgrounds and implications of rules that it becomes possible to control the present and possibly future developments of the world's legal institutions. This collection of essays aims to provide the reader with a fundamental understanding of the dynamic relationship between the law and its cultural, political and socio-economic context.

The emergence of EU Private Law as an independent legal discipline is one of the most significant developments in European legal scholarship in recent times. In this Companion, leading scholars provide a critical introduction to the subject's key areas, while offering original and thought-provoking comment on the field. In addition to several chapters on consumer law topics, the collection has individual chapters on commercial contracts, competition law, non-discrimination law, financial services and travel law. It also discusses the wider issues concerning EU Private Law, such as its historical evolution, the role of comparative law, language and terminology, as well as the implications of the Common Frame of Reference project. A useful 'scene-setting' introduction and further reading arranged thematically make this important publication the student's and scholar's first port of call when exploring the field.

• Unique combination of introduction to and critical analysis of an important emerging discipline in European legal scholarship • Collection offers unrivalled line up of leading commentators in the field • Additional features such as useful 'scene setting' introduction and thematically-organised further reading recommendations ideal for students new to the field

Human rights are considered one of the big ideas of the early twenty-first century. This book presents in an authoritative and readable form the variety of platforms on which human rights law is practiced today, reflecting also on the dynamic inter-relationships that exist between these various levels. The collection has a critical edge. The chapters engage with how human rights law has developed in its various subfields, what (if anything) has been achieved and at what cost, in terms of expected or produced unexpected side-effects. The authors pass judgment about the consistency, efficacy and success of human rights law (set against the standards of the field itself or other external goals). Written by world-class academics, this Companion will be essential reading for students and scholars of human rights law.

This intellectually rigorous introduction to international law encourages readers to engage with multiple aspects of the topic: as 'law' directing and shaping its subjects; as a technique for governing the world of states and beyond statehood; and as a framework within which several critical and constructivist projects are articulated. The articles situate international law in its historical and ideological context and examine core concepts such as sovereignty, jurisdiction and the state. Attention is also given to its operation within international institutions and in dispute settlement, and a separate section is devoted to international law's 'projects': protecting human rights, eradicating poverty, the conservation of resources, the regulation of international trade and investment and the establishment of international order. The diverse group of contributors draws from disciplinary orientations ranging from positivism to postmodernism to ensure that this book is informed theoretically and politically, as well as grounded in practice.