Two major factors brought about the establishment of the Netherlands Yearbook of International Law in 1970: demand for the publication of national practice in international law, and the desirability for legal practitioners, state representatives and international lawyers to have access to the growing amount of available data, in the form of articles, notes etc. The documentation section of the NYIL contains an extensive review of Dutch state practice from the parliamentary year prior to publication, an account of developments relating to treaties and other international agreements to which the Netherlands is a party, summaries of Netherlands judicial decisions involving questions of public international law (many of which are not published elsewhere), lists of Dutch publications in the field and extracts from relevant municipal legislation. Although the NYIL has a distinctive national character, it is published in English and the editors do not adhere to any geographical limitations when deciding upon the inclusion of articles.

Globalisation and international governance constantly pose challenges to international law. This constant challenge can only be understood if one keeps in mind that globalisation and international governance are not simple and linear developments, but rather complex and contradictory processes. The emergence of several overlapping and competing normative orders characterized in terms of 'new medievalism' and 'legal pluralism' - has given impetus to some age-old debates in international law: What is the role of the 'international community'? What is the proper function and meaning of state sovereignty in international law? What are the powers of international organizations in relation to the overlapping legal orders of their member states? At a more practical level, the problem of 'legal pluralism' is discussed in the context of the proliferation of international tribunals: how does this affects the unity and coherence of international law and what should be the proper role of lawyers in dealing with competing norms and competences? Finally, the complex and contradictory nature of international governance is illustrated by the role of international non-governmental organizations in different periods and areas, such as criminal law, environmental law and cyberspace.
This book discusses the above-mentioned topics from a multidisciplinary perspective. It combines insights from international relations theory, legal theory and international law in an attempt to clarify some issues of globalisation, international governance and international law.

The contributions included in this book, all written by renowned scholars, examine some of the long-standing fundamental issues of international law. The main part concerns the question: how is international law made and applied? A highly original, systematic assessment of the formation of customary international law by Herman Meijers - now for the first time published in English - provides an answer to this question. Two other long-standing fundamental issues are examined. Firstly, the plausibility of the hypothesis that international law is complete on the basis of the existence of a so-called 'closing rule'. Secondly, a study of the principle of the genuine link in the modern law of the sea demonstrates that its livelihood is so limited that a post mortem is justified. The volume is concluded by a discussion on a paradoxical aspect of the law of treaties, namely regarding the right of the parties to terminate their agreements.

With the rising relevance of international organizations in international affairs, and the general turn to litigation to settle disputes, international institutional law issues have increasingly become the subject of litigation, before both international and domestic courts. The judicial treatment of this field of international law is addressed in Judicial Decisions on the Law of International Organizations through commentary on excerpts of the most prominent international and domestic judicial decisions that are relevant to the law of international organizations, providing in-depth analysis of judicial decisions. The commentaries written and edited by leading experts in the field of international institutional law, they are opinionated and critically engage with the decision in question, with commentators' and stakeholders' reactions thereto, and with later decisions, codifications, and reports.