International economic law and public international law: The past and the future

Abstract

The field of international economic law has changed dramatically from fifty years ago. There are now many lawyers around the world engaged in the field, there are courses in law schools, there is a substantial scholarly and professional literature, and international economic law has engaged the interest of public international lawyers. Moreover, there is an emerging generation of international lawyers well versed in traditional principles of public international law as well as international trade law and international investment law. Yet, for a variety of reasons there is still suspicion by some public international lawyers of the legitimacy of international economic law as a field. The challenge for the future is to foster a greater understanding between the areas of trade, investment and other fields of international law so that concepts used in one are readily understood in the other and, where relevant, adapted and applied more generally.