The law applied by international administrative tribunals: from autonomy to hierarchy

This Article examines the law applied by the administrative tribunals of international organizations when resolving disputes between international organizations and international civil servants. The analysis suggests that international administrative tribunals primarily rely on employment contracts and internal law of international organisations while only rarely referencing international law. This Article argues that international administrative tribunals should specifically define in their relevant statutes the sources of law applicable to international administrative disputes and that they should distinguish such sources from non-legal norms. The Article further notes the modern trend of international administrative tribunals of giving more weight to general principles of law. It ultimately argues that these tribunals should establish the supremacy of international law, particularly fundamental principles of international labor law, over the internal law of international organizations. The establishment of such a hierarchy will make international administrative law more legitimate, coherent, and predictable

The concept of ‘law’ in global administrative law : a reply to Benedict Kingsbury

Departing from the Westphalian tradition, global administrative law is seen as arising from the pragmatic needs of transboundary regulation underpinned by a normative aspiration to rule of law beyond national boundaries. Unhinged from state consent, however, it faces a twofold challenge: legality and legitimacy. The former centers on the distinction between law and non-law; the latter is concerned with the legitimacy of global administrative law. Benedict Kingsbury’s The Concept of ‘Law’ in Global Administrative Law attempts to answer this twofold challenge by centering the new paradigm of international law, as epitomized by global administrative law, on the notion of publicness. First, he pins its solution on the substantive concept of publicness. Second, he portrays global administrative law as an inter-public law, governing the relationship among regulatory regimes in accordance with the value of publicness. This Reply argues that Kingsbury’s publicness-centered conception of international law does not resolve the challenges facing global administrative law. Rather, his version of global administrative law does not so much correspond to an inter-public law as points to a post-public conception of legitimacy, reflecting the trend of addressing the issue of fragmentation by tacitly adopting the strategy of privatization in global administrative law scholarship

Forms of European Administrative Action

Chiti examines the various forms of European administration and their associated administrative law systems. Chiti recounts the history of administration and of administrative law in the European Community, examines the main types of administrative action in the Community, and highlights the novel elements and the shortcomings of European administrative law today