The Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

This book includes the general report and a series of country reports presented at the 2023 International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL) General Congress in Asuncion, Paraguay, on the topic of the justiciability of economic, social, and cultural rights. Special reports are included from the following jurisdictions: Brazil, Canada, United States, India, Indonesia, Japan, Turkey, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Albania, Romania, Lithuania, and Slovenia. It discusses trends in the judicial enforcement of economic, social, and cultural rights in jurisdictions from different regions around the world. The editors and authors demonstrate clear trends towards greater inclusion of economic, social, and cultural rights in constitutions, as well as towards their greater justiciability. However, variance is found regarding questions of how these rights are interpreted, as well as what approaches are taken to issuing judgments and remedies. Moreover, the impact of economic, social, and cultural rights is a very complex issue, dependent on a multitude of factors. Finally, while it is noted that an international law framework governs these rights, that framework has not led to a harmonization of approaches. While the divergent impact that different approaches appear to have is highlighted, the need for a continued experimental and creative ethos regarding judicial enforcement of economic, social, and cultural rights is recognised.


Angelika Nussberger, Dr. iur, Dr. h.c., Dr. h.c., is Professor for Constitutional and International Law at Cologne University. She is also a former Judge and Vice-President at the European Court of Human Rights, Vice-President of the Venice Commission, President of the German Constitutional Lawyers’ Association and an International Judge at the Constitutional Court of Bosnia–Herzegovina. Angelika Nussberger is also an Honorary Bencher at Lincoln’s Inn and an Officier de la Légion d’honneur in France. Amongst others, she is the author of L’Europe constitutionnelle: une ou divisée? (Édition Collège de France, 2023), Die Menschenrechte. Geschichte, Philosophie, Konflikte (Beck-Verlag, 2021) and The European Court of Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2020).

David Landau, A.B., J.D., Ph.D. (political science), Harvard University, is Mason Ladd Professor and Associate Dean for International Programs at Florida State University College of Law. He is the founding editor of ICONnect Blog, a blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law) and was a consultant for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Honduras in 2011. Amongst others, David Landau is the author of Abusive Constitutional Borrowing (with Rosalind Dixon, Oxford University Press, 2021) and on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Constitutional Law and Global Constitutionalism.


With a General Report by Angelika Nussberger (Cologne University, Germany) and David Landau (Florida State University, United States) and Special Reports by Katie Boyle (Stirling University, United Kingdom), Daniela-Anca Deteseanu (University of Bucharest, Romania), Italo Roberto Fuhrmann (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), Susi Dwi Harijanti (Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia), Stefanus Hendrianto (Pontifica Universita Gregoriana, Italy), Sara Hungler (Eötvös Loránd Université, Hungary), Audrey Lebret (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Tetsuji Matsumoto (Doshisha University, Japan), Ved P. Nanda (University of Denver, United States), Cristina-Mihaela Nicolescu (University of Bucharest, Romania), Christos Papastylianos (University of Nicosia, Cyprus), Daiva Petrylaitė (Vilniaus University, Lithuania), M. Zoltán Pozsarszentmiklosi (Eötvös Loránd Université, Hungary), Graziella Romeo (Bocconi University, Italy), Geraldine Rosoux (University of Liege, Belgium), Sara Ross (Dalhousie University, Canada), Ingo Wolfgang Sarlet (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), Yannick Schoog (University of Cologne, Germany), Amal Sethi (University of Hamburg, Germany), Melda Sur (İzmir University of Economics, Turkey), Wouter Vandenhole (University of Antwerp, Belgium), Frédéric Vanneste (University of Antwerp, Belgium), Arta Vorpsi (University of Tirana, Albania) and Renata Zagradišnik (Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia).