CYIL 2013

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