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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW, 2
ND
ISSUE
Šturma, P., Balaš, V.
International Economic Law, 2
nd
issue
[Mezinárodní ekonomické právo, 2. vydání]
Nakladatelství C. H. Beck, Prague 2013, 503 p.
Recent years have seen a rapid rise in academic attention to all different aspects
of International Economy. The latest evidence of this is a recently published
work, “International Economic Law”, written by two well-known experts, Pavel
Šturma and Vladimír Balaš, both with expansive legal backgrounds. As its title
implies, the book seeks to cover the entirety of the broad field of international
economic law. This book, with its 7 parts and impressive 503 pages, provides an
excellent introduction to international economic law. The book takes the form of
a textbook and successfully builds on its previously published first edition (Course
of International Economic Law, 1997, 210 pages). This book, in the comparison
with the first edition, has been substantially extended, and the main parts have
been reorganized and supplemented with respect to the importance of certain
aspects (such as the WTO and its role) and recent developments.
The authors are very experienced scholars, and this is also reflected in the
organization of this book. Prior to the text, the reader is presented with a table
of contents and a table of abbreviations. As said before, the publication itself is
divided into 7 main parts, which are further divided in subsections. Every part has
an initial section on basic readings, which provides the reader with key references
to selected literature regarding the specific topic of that part.
The first part, namely “Concept of international economic law and its
features”, covers the definition of this branch of the law. The authors also focus
on general economic ideas behind international economic relations and the area
of law concerned. I think this is a very good step toward providing the reader with
the big picture.
In the second part, “Norms of international economic law”, the authors deal
with all the sources of international economic law and their features. The two
subdivisions, the first one addressing the sources of law in public international law
in general and the second one dealing with the sources in international economic
law, proved to be the most accessible structure for such a timeless theme.
The third part, namely “Subjects of international economic law and actors of
international economic relations”, is divided into 8 subsections. The first three
subsections are devoted to the role of the state in international economic law
with regard to its regulatory functions, state immunity, and factual differences
between states. The other five subsections provide an overview of the history of
the development of international law and world financial system and deals in
greater detail with international organizations acting in this area (the International