Grotius-Asser Event with Dr Letizia Lo Giacco (Grotius Centre), Judge Hilary Charlesworth (ICJ) and Kiki Brölmann (UvA)
On 19 September 2024, Dr Letizia Lo Giacco gave a lecture on "Seeking change through international courts: Rethinking what judicial decisions do in international law" at T.M.C. Asser Institute. Judge Hilary Charlesworth of the International Court of Justice and Professor Catherine (Kiki) Brölmann from University of Amsterdam participated as discussants.
The event, co-sponsored by the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, was an opportunity to present Dr. Lo Giacco's inquiry into judicial discretion and how meaning takes shape in international law argumentation - as developed in her book Judicial Decisions in International Law Argumentation - Between Entrapment and Creativity (Hart, 2022) recently released in paperback.
For Dr Lo Giacco, judicial decisions by international courts “present us with past choices made by courts in a specific time, under some normative assumptions about what international law is and what is it for.” With this, she reminded those in attendance that “while using judicial decisions ensure predictability and stability of the law, at the same we shall not forget, when possible, that we retain agency.”
Hope and agency were the two concepts that concluded a thought-provoking lecture and engagement between Dr Lo Giacco, Prof Kiki Brölmann and Judge Hilary Charlesworth.
The turnout was impressive, at testimony of the great interest for international courts in fostering change in international law.
