Author Description

Professor Falk here investigates how active or passive the domestic courts should be in the development of a rule of international law. He discusses international jurisdiction (horizontal and vertical forms of legal order), domestic courts and foreign wars (civil and international), questions of sovereign immunity and act of state, and problems of allocation and choice of law. How does a domestic court strike a balance between international legal order and national interest? This question gives rise to others: to what extent should a domestic court suspend its normal application of international law in order to avoid conflict with relevant executive policy? Is it efficacious to allow the vagaries of international relations to control the outcome of legal controversies in domestic courts? Does a commitment to the rule of law presuppose that intergovernmental relations are irrelevant to the outcome of a specific controversy? Professor Falk views the transformation of international society as the only alternative to global tragedy.