The European Court of Human Rights, like any international court, is bound by its founding treaty. In particular, the jurisdiction and powers of the Court are prescribed by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). A recent case of judicial self-empowerment concerning the relinquishment of jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber has triggered concerns that the Court is not…

Editor's Note: This is the author's concluding post in the EJIL:Debate! regarding an article in the current issue of EJIL Vol. 26 (2015) No 2, by Stefan Talmon. The original post is here. See also the posts discussing the article by Omri Sender and Michael Wood, Harlan G. Cohen and…

Methodology is probably not the strong point of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or, indeed, of international law in general. Unlike its approach to methods of treaty interpretation, the ICJ has hardly ever stated its methodology for determining the existence, content and scope of the rules of customary international law that it applies. There are only isolated…