Abstract: This chapter explores the procedural and substantive dimensions of compliance disputes before international courts (ICs), focusing on jurisdiction, admissibility, and available remedies. It considers consent to adjudication at the compliance stage and examines the legal bases for ICs to address claims of non-compliance with previous judgments. The chapter analyses objections to admissibility, including challenges based on res judicata, the absence of a meaningful dispute, and the lack of concrete legal effects, then discusses how ICs navigate these objections, employing procedural techniques and remedy escalation to address persistent non-compliance. This inquiry demonstrates the dual role of compliance adjudication: deterring breaches through authoritative declarations and enabling new remedies where prior rulings fail to lead to compliance. These mechanisms underscore the potential of compliance adjudication to enhance the enforceability of international obligations despite ICs’ inability to order the deployment of coercion against recalcitrant states.

Some of the most decisive battles over the responsibilities of transnational corporations (TNCs) have been fought in domestic courtrooms – often far from where the alleged abuses occurred. The United States has hosted a substantial proportion of such cases against TNCs, supported by a legal framework that historically provided several plaintiff-friendly avenues. However, the landscape has become more challenging following the Supreme Court’s decisions in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. and Daimler AG v. Bauman. In Canada, the absence of an ATS-equivalent and the application of the doctrine of forum non conveniens have limited opportunities for litigation. However, recent decisions suggest more cases may flow to Canada in the future. In the United Kingdom, developments in the law relating to parent company liability have been particularly significant. In Across continental Europe, barriers such as limited access to class actions, prosecutorial discretion, and weak disclosure obligations continue to constrain transnational human rights litigation.

This chapter provides an introduction to the core concepts of US law, for those with an HCI background but not a legal background. The chapter covers the history of U.S. law, the basic constructs of the U.S. legal system, the core sources of legal rules: constitutions, statutues, regulations, and case law, differences between civil and criminal law, the differences between law and policy at the federal versus state level, searching for and using legal resources, and how to apply basic legal principles to HCI research.

This chapter frames the adverse consequences of sanctions as a product of the interplay between government policy and commercial decision-making. It argues that corporate decision making about economic sanctions is an important factor behind the efficacy of sanctions. Commercial actors also play a central role in causing or amplifying the adverse consequences of sanctions. The chapter presents sanctions from a legal perspective, treating sanctions as legal rules that are limited by traditional notions of jurisdiction. At the same time, these rules contain significant ambiguities and are accompanied by heavy enforcement. Commercial actors respond by adopting risk avoidance strategies such as de-risking and overcompliance. These strategies produce adverse consequences for innocent populations, NGOs, and others that are not the stated targets of sanctions. The tendency for commercial actors to terminate trade relations beyond the actual terms of sanctions regulations is worth studying because it reveals a gap between the expectations of government policymakers and business practices. It can also make sanctions weaker and incentivize the creation of “unsanctioned” trade channels. The chapter concludes with a call for governments to clarify expectations about sanctions so that commercial actors do not face a dilemma between crippling compliance costs or crippling enforcement.

The Kingdom of Sicily, which belonged to the Kingdom of Aragon, was a challenging environment for Spanish inquisitors. The island was by default a space through which people, goods, and ideas circulated. It also amounted to a frontier zone in the eastern Mediterranean. Inquisitors in Sicily attempted to monitor the ports while attending to the numerous populations of foreigners which resided there; they also focused on the Catholic orthodoxy and morality of the Christian residents. This chapter explores the ways in which the inquisition tribunal on the island continuously came into conflict with other courts, institutions, and powers of the kingdom. It argues that Sicily’s inquisitors were significantly affected by their local environment. While the history of the Sicilian Inquisition demonstrates its ability to adapt to particular social and institutional contexts, as well as political situations, it also reveals resistance to the confessional society that the Inquisition represented and promoted.

Chapter 2 considers the state’s legal power in acquiring land and materials for construction and maintenance of public amenities, the management of the built environment in Rome and the activities of its inhabitants, the nature of urban life, and the provision and protection of amenities, such as corn, the water supply, baths, and games. The emperor assumed responsibility for the welfare of his people; this was his duty but was also politically important. The emperor provided for security and control in the city, sponsoring firemen (vigiles), urban cohorts, and praetorian guard under the command of officials with defined legal powers: prefects of the city, of the praetorians, and of the vigiles. Outside Rome: the management and status of communities in Italy, the organization of land and people, facilities including roads and bridges, important institutions in society, such as collegia and alimenta, and the legal jurisdiction of the praetorian prefect within Italy.

This chapter addresses the concept of ’receivability’ of complaints to international administrative tribunals, encompassing requirements of both jurisdiction and admissibility. The analysis distinguishes between jurisdiction ratione personae (who can bring claims) and ratione materiae (subject matter), as well as procedural issues like exhaustion of remedies and time limits. By comparing statutory provisions and case law, the chapter identifies common practices across IATs, such as conditions under which non-staff personnel or former staff members may have standing. The chapter underscores how similar approaches have evolved among IATs despite varying statutory constraints.

This chapter examines the obligations and responsibilities for protecting human rights and it does so by focusing mainly on ways in which states and other entities contribute to the violation of human rights standards. One of the major questions addressed here is whether the human rights obligations of states end at their territorial borders, or whether they also have extraterritorial obligations as well.

Corporate law, like all law, has a context; indeed, it has many contexts. To understand corporate law today, we need to appreciate the forces—social, political, economic, global and local— which shape that law. Modern corporations and contemporary Australian corporate law should be understood as a product of, and a compromise between, various social, economic and legal ideas and philosophies. This is the focus of the first two chapters of this book.

In this chapter, we ask the reader to temporarily postpone the quest for a more detailed explanation of the legal concepts that are introduced. We will come back to examine these concepts in detail elsewhere in the book.

This chapter explains the various mechanisms for the resolution of disputes, chiefly arising out of violations of the rules of the ITF, ATP and WTA. It focuses on ITF mechanisms, starting with internal processes and on-site quasi adjudicatory mechanisms. It then goes on to examine the ITF’s Internal Adjudication Panel, especially its first-instance, appellate and supervisory function, followed by the Independent Tribunal, which is an arbitral body. It proceeds to look at the various types of powers and functions conferred on the Tribunal and the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) arising out of appeals against the Independent Tribunal. The chapter examines briefly the very narrow ATP and WTA dispute resolution mechanisms and the role of national courts in dealing with contractual tennis disputes.

A brief overview of the themes of the study shows that the quest for land upon which to erect defensible settlements and from which to raise necessary revenue determined much of the course of Company endeavour. Without land there was nowhere to erect Company factories and accommodation, without land there was no security from the predations of indigenous and rival European forces, without land there was no settlement of indigenous artisans and traders generating revenue, without land there was no revenue from tenant peasants and without land there was no empire. This legitimacy of this quest and the sovereign authority the Company sought depended in part on the administration of justice. Following haphazard attempts to impose English law, the unification of jurisdiction after 1726 provided a degree of coherence across the three presidencies. Accompanied by all the trappings and pageantry of court proceedings, and the assimilation into its ranks of leading figures from the various communities, the mayor’s courts commanded legitimacy and thus a broad acceptance; this despite the persistence of corruption and a failure to render the courts wholly independent from Company influence.

Jurisdiction refers to the ability of a State to make and enforce its laws. While often related to sovereignty, and intrinsically linked to its territory, jurisdiction can exist without a connection to territory. Jurisdiction can be held to exist in a variety of contexts, depending on the location of events, the nationality of participants or the surrounding circumstances, and will also indicate whether a State may be able to undertake enforcement action to uphold its law. This chapter considers the nature of jurisdiction insofar as it affects persons, corporations, ships and aircraft. The different types of recognised international law jurisdiction are each assessed, including territorial jurisdiction, nationality jurisdiction, universal jurisdiction, the protective principle, and passive personality jurisdiction. Jurisdictional immunities as they apply to States, Heads of States, State officials and diplomats are also considered.

Chapter 8 on Extraterritoriality discusses how the cross-border nature of climate impacts is addressed within climate litigation. The author scrutinises the interpretation of ‘jurisdiction’ and related procedural and substantive issues in the context of these transboundary impacts. His analysis showcases how these legal principles and procedural rules either facilitate or constrain courts and quasi-judicial bodies in grappling meaningfully with these impacts. In his exploration of key decisions, the author unravels their implications for the global governance of climate change and the challenges and opportunities they present for transboundary climate lawsuits. He distils emerging best practices that reveal how courts and quasi-judicial bodies, through judicious interpretation of legal principles, are grappling with the global dimensions of climate change. Despite the complexities inherent in integrating extraterritorial considerations into climate litigation, the chapter posits an optimistic outlook and highlights how visionary legal reasoning can tackle these complexities in a manner that is conducive to ensuring access to justice for those most affected by climate impacts.

This chapter considers examples of State enforcement of international law, including in cases of war crimes and genocide. It then assesses collective enforcement under mechanisms provided for in the UN Charter, giving particular consideration to UN sanctions, including Australian law and policy approaches giving effect to sanctions, and peacekeeping.