TRICI-Law Hosts its First Conference

On May 24th – 25th 2019, the TRICI-Law project hosted their first conference on ‘The Theory and Philosophy of Customary International Law and its Interpretation’ featuring over 40 presenters and a keynote address from His Excellency Judge Raul Pangalangan of the International Criminal Court

With over 100 attendees, this inaugural conference was a roaring success. TRICI-Law’s mission is embodied by its acronym: ‘The Rules of Interpretation of Customary International Law’. Seeking to demonstrate that interpretation plays a pivotal role in the content-determination of the rules of customary international law as it does with any other legal rule. Thus, this first conference, co-organized with the ESIL IGILTP, sought to lay the foundation for dialogues on the various facets of interpreting customary international law.

The conference was superbly opened with an intriguing opening keynote address from H.E. Judge Pangalangan, ‘On Reading the Unwritten: Constraints on Codified Rules and the Enduring Power of Custom.’ Additionally, there were nine themed panels during the event, with topics such as 'The Relevance of Hermeneutics and Interpretation in CIL',  'Actor Variety in the Content-Determination of CIL', ‘Domestic Courts Lessons on the Theory and Interpretation of CIL’ and the ‘Ontological Critiques of CIL’, which helped cement the critical and collaborative tone of the conference.

In an exciting development, the TRICI-Law project is thrilled to announce the official launch of their podcast and research paper series in the coming weeks. In addition to their video series, podcast content will include the presentations from current, and future, conferences, in addition to other special featurettes relating to TRICI-Law’s research.

Otherwise, there remains little rest for the TRICI-Law team, as Prof. Panos Merkouris is an invited speaker to an Expert Workshop on State Responsibility (31 May 2019), co-organized by the Athens Public International Law Center (Athens PIL)  and the Athens Mediation & Arbitration Organization (EODID).  He will be speaking on 'Interpretation of Customary International Law in the Context of International Responsibility'. PhD Researcher Nina Mileva will be attending a legal summer school in Florence early in July, followed by a conference in Lucerne attended by TRICI-Law’s Principle Investigator Prof. Panos Merkouris and its PhD researchers Marina Fortuna and Nina Mileva.

More information about the nature, structure, objectives and the team of the TRICI-Law project can be found on their website. You can also follow them on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.