Charting the Wrong Course: The Doctrine of Legitimate Expectations in Investment Treaty Law

Abstract

The need to redefine the scope of the doctrine of legitimate expectations in investment treaty law is apparent. This article examines the domestic sources of the doctrine of legitimate expectations in order to evaluate whether investment treaty tribunals are justified in interpreting the doctrine of legitimate expectations to include substantive expectations. It concludes that recognizing substantive expectations as a part of the general principles of law is at this point premature and amounts to a misstatement of a general principle of law. There must be due consideration to the notion of deference as found in different domestic jurisdictions, including the doctrines of constraint found in common law.