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14 - Investment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2025

By
Tarcisio Gazzini
General editor
Randall Lesaffer
Edited by
Robert Kolb  and
Momchil Milanov
Randall Lesaffer
Affiliation:
KU Leuven and Tilburg University
Robert Kolb
Affiliation:
Université de Genève
Momchil Milanov
Affiliation:
International Court of Justice
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Summary

This chapter offers a concise analysis of the legal framework on the protection of foreign investment at the time of the League of Nations, in many respects a rather turbulent period. Such legal framework was essentially composed of a rudimentary network of very heterogeneous bilateral treaties, some basic customary rules, and some broad general principles largely based on the notions of justice and equity. Many fundamental questions remain fiercely disputed, and insurmountable divergences between states to a large extent frustrated the attempts to codify the international rules on the protection of foreigners and their property. Yet the legacy of this period should not be underestimated. From a substantive perspective, state practice already demonstrated a certain convergence on some basic rules on the treatment of foreign investors, while some legal claims put forward by some states – including the so-called Hull formula concerning compensation for expropriation – failed to muster the general acceptance necessary to become legally binding rules. Regarding the settlement of investment-related disputes, an embryonic role for investors started to surface in this period.

Keywords

protection of aliensexpropriationMFNtreaties of friendshipcommerce and navigationcodificationdispute settlement
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of International Law , pp. 435 - 468
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

Borchard, Edwin, ‘Minimum standard of the treatment of aliens’, Michigan Law Review, 38 (1940) 445–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumberry, Patrick, The Formation and Identification of Rules of Customary International Law in International Investment Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fachiri, Alexander P., ‘International law and the property of aliens’, British Yearbook of International Law, 6 (1925) 159–72; and 10 (1929) 32–55.Google Scholar
Friedman, Samy, Expropriation in International Law (London: Stevens and Sons 1958).Google Scholar
Hackworth, Green H., ‘Responsibility of states for damages caused in their territory to the person or property of foreigners’, American Journal of International Law, 24 (1930) 500–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kunz, Josef L., ‘The Mexican expropriations’, New York University Law Review, 17 (1940) 327–84.Google Scholar
Miles, Kate, The Origins of International Investment Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, Fred K., International Law Applied to Reclamations. Mainly in Cases between the United States and Mexico (Washington: J. Byrne 1933).Google Scholar
Parlett, Kate, The Individual in the International Legal System. Continuity and Change in International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinchis, Mona, ‘The ancestry of equitable treatment in trade: lessons from the League of Nations during the inter-war period’, Journal of World Investment & Trade, 27 (2014) 13–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polanco, Rodrigo, The Return of the Home State to Investor–State Disputes. Bringing Back Diplomatic Protection? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2018).Google Scholar
Williams, John Fischer, ‘International law and the property of aliens’, British Yearbook of International Law, 9 (1928) 1–30.Google Scholar
Wortley, Ben A., Expropriation in Public International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1959).Google Scholar

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