A tribute to Robert E. Hudec

Extract

Bob Hudec had the great good fortune to witness – and make important contributions to – the full evolution of the focus of his life's work, namely the GATT/WTO legal system. When he began, the GATT had what he called a ‘diplomat's jurisprudence’, a state of affairs perhaps best exemplified by the fact that the member countries did not allow the Secretariat to have a formal Legal Division (or even a formal legal advisor) until 1983, 35 years after the GATT was established (the IMF had a General Counsel and a Legal Division the day it opened for business). By the 1980s the authority of legal obligations was playing a much more important role. Then, with the successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round, came the bold changes we are living with today: the automatic right to bring legal complaints before a dispute settlement tribunal, automatically binding legal rulings, appellate review, and an automatic right to impose retaliatory trade sanctions when the defendant government fails to comply with a legal ruling.