From Bilateralism to Community Interest

This festschrift, dedicated to Judge Bruno Simma, traces the development of international law from regulating bilateral state-to-state relationships towards strengthening the entire international community by protecting human security, the global environment, and human rights. It provides both theoretical and practical insights into these sometimes conflicting goals, their basis in international law, and the role played by international institutions charged with upholding these values and interests.

The work thus examines the mechanism by which international law contributes to the realization not only of individual State interests, but the interests of the international community as a whole. From this vantage point, it looks at the various functions that international law fulfils in the international community, from law-making and institution-building towards adjudication and the securing of human rights. Taken together, the contributions to this book paints a detailed, but nevertheless comprehensive picture of the realization of community interest in contemporary international law.

As professor and judge, Bruno Simma has contributed to all of these tasks: providing ground-breaking theoretical work, serving in the International Law Commission and in the Committee for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and finally, as a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The three introductory chapters express this unity of life and work.

Ulrich Fastenrath is Professor of Public Law, European Union Law, and Public International Law at the Technische Universitat Dresden.

Rudolf Geiger is Professor Emeritus of Public, European and International Law at the University of Leipzig.

Daniel-Erasmus Khan is Professor of Public Law, European Law and International Law at the University of the Armed Forces in Munich.

Andreas Paulus a Judge on Germany's Constitutional Court.

Sabine von Schorlemer is Professor of Public International Law, European Law, and International Relations at the Technische Universitat Dresden.

Christoph Vedder is Professor of Public Law, Public International, and European Law at the University of Augsburg.