Legal Authority beyond the State

In recent decades, new international courts and other legal bodies have proliferated as international law has broadened beyond the fields of treaty law and diplomatic relations. This development has not only triggered debate about how authority may be held by institutions beyond the state, but has also thrown into question familiar models of authority found in legal and political philosophy. The essays in this book take a philosophical approach to these developments, debates and questions. In doing so, they seek to clarify the relevant issues underpinning, as well as develop possible solutions to the problem of how legal authority may be constructed beyond the state.

Introduction Patrick Capps and Henrik Palmer Olsen; 1. The evolution of authority Alan Brudner; 2. The evolution of global authority Patrick Capps; 3. International courts and the building of legal authority beyond the state Henrik Palmer Olsen; 4. Semantic authority, legal change and the dynamics of international law Ingo Venzke; 5. Practical reason and authority beyond the state John Martin Gillroy; 6. Varieties of authority in international law – state-consent, international organisations, courts, experts and citizens Inger-Johanne Sand; 7. The legitimate authority of international courts and its limits – a challenge to Raz's service conception? Andreas Follesdal; 8. Consent, obligation, and the legitimate authority of international law Richard Collins; 9. The International Criminal Court: The New Leviathan? Margaret Martin.

Leading international lawyers and legal philosophers examine the problem of how authority can be constructed within a rapidly evolving international legal order, as new legal institutions outside the state challenge traditional views of international law.

Patrick Capps is a Professor of International Law at the University of Bristol. He teaches in the areas of Public International Law and the Philosophy of Law. He has held visiting positions at the University of Melbourne, the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen.
Henrik Palmer Olsen is a Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Copenhagen. He is a leading expert in legal theory and has published foundational research within the areas of jurisprudence, the separation of powers and the relationship between institutional design and notions of justice, with a recent focus on international courts.