Independence and Impartiality of International Adjudicators

The principles of independence and impartiality are fundamental to the proper administration of justice. This book examines how these principles are implemented in a variety of settings: in national courts of selected jurisdictions, international courts and international arbitration.

The book collates special reports which address the topical issues currently under debate, such as the need to preserve the adjudicator’s independence from the other powers of the state, and the need to preserve the legitimacy of arbitration in investor-state disputes. Rapporteurs also examine topics such as the standard required for independence and impartiality, the selection criteria and the selection method, the authority in charge of making the selection (a party appointment or an appointing authority), the mechanisms to counter-balance the influence that may be exercised by the appointing authority, the adjudicator’s duty of disclosure, the adjudicator’s immunity, the adjudicator’s rights and duty after the term of service, codes of conduct, and the consequences of a breach of the different duties.

The general report provides a comparative analysis of the mechanisms implemented in the various systems, and highlights their similarities and differences. The analysis refutes some of the assumptions commonly made in the ongoing debate on the reform of the mechanism for individual-state dispute resolution, especially for investment arbitration. In particular, the comparative analysis of the mechanisms used within international courts does not confirm the assumption that a permanent court would resolve issues of legitimacy that are currently discussed in connection with investment arbitration (such as conflict of interests, double-hatting and issue conflict).



Giuditta Cordero-Moss is Professor at the University of Oslo, Norway and President of the International Academy of Comparative Law. She publishes and lectures in Norway and internationally within the fields of contract law, private international law and arbitration. She was formerly a corporate lawyer and has been acting as an arbitrator since 2002. She is a member of the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration (since 2018) and of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law (since 2019), and has been a delegate for Norway for the United Nations Commission On International Trade Law Working Group II since 2007. From 2017 to 2020, she was President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Administrative Tribunal and was also a Judge there between 2007 and 2020.



With a General Report by Giuditta Cordero-Moss (University of Oslo, Norway) and Special Reports by Diego P. Fernández Arroyo (Sciences Po, France), Freya Baetens (Oxford University, United Kingdom), Andrea K. Bjorklund (McGill University, Canada), Lucian Bojin (West University of Timișoara, Romania), Hilary Charlesworth (International Court of Justice), Damien Charlotin (HEC and Sciences Po, France), Yuliya Chernykh (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway), Maria Beatrice Deli (University of Molise, Italy), Sorina Doroga (West University of Timișoara, Romania), Karim El Chazli (Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Switzerland), Franco Ferrari (New York University, United States of America), Fabien Gélinas (McGill University, Canada), Chiara Giorgetti (University of Richmond, United States of America), Rafael Quintero Godínez (Birmingham City University, United Kingdom), Erika Hasler (Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, Switzerland), Didem Kayalı (TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey), Eva Litina (Hellenic Consumers’ Ombudsman, Greece), Soterios Loizou (King’s College London, United Kingdom), Emma Macfarlane (Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, United States of America), Maria Chiara Malaguti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy), Makane Moïse Mbengue (University of Geneva, Switzerland), Anne-Lise Ménagé (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, France), Nguyen Thi Hoa (Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, Vietnam), Nikiforos Panagis (International Court of Justice), Raúl Pereira Fleury (FERRERE, Paraguay), Giulia Poli (attorney, Italy), Antonio Rigozzi (Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, Switzerland), Friedrich Rosenfeld (Hanefeld, Germany), Vasilka Sancin (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Alexandre Senegacnik (Sciences Po, France), Christophe Seraglini (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, France), Kasper Steensgaard (Aarhus University, Denmark), Marco Torsello (University of Verona, Italy), Tran Hoang Tu Linh (Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, Vietnam), Paul E. Trinel (McGill University, Canada), Domen Turšič (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), István Varga (ELTE University, Hungary) and Jarrod Wong (University of the Pacific, United States of America), and a foreword by George Bermann (Columbia University, United States of America).).