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Mr. Jan Paulsson

Mr. Jan Paulsson
Partner
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Biography Biography in PDF
International Economic Law
Foreign Investment
A State’s Power to Make
Meaningful Promises to Foreigners
When States bind themselves by international agreements they place limits on their future action—yet this should be understood as an exercise of sovereignty, not a breach of it. The ability to make a meaningful promise empowers States; to deny that such commitments are binding is to deprive them of a thing of great value.

Video | Audio
(10/4/2008, 52 minutes)

Recording courtesy of
Georgetown University Law Center
International Economic Law
Foreign Investment
A State’s Power to Make Meaningful Promises to Foreigners
A. Legal Instruments
International

Treaty of Peace Between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany, Versailles, 28 June 1919.

North American Free Trade Agreement, International Legal Materials, vol. 32, 1993, p. 289.

National

Law No. 43 of 1974 concerning Arab and Foreign Investments and Free Zones (Egypt).

Federal Law of December 18, 1987 on International Private Law (Switzerland).

Law No. 86972 of 19 August 1986, Journal officiel, 22 August 1986, 10190 (France).
B. Jurisprudence

Arbitral Tribunal, Alabama Claims of the United States of America Against Great Britain, Decision of 14 September 1872, Reports of International Arbitral Awards, vol. 29, p. 125.

Permanent Court of International Justice, S.S. “Wimbledon”, Judgment of 17 August 1923, P.C.I.J., Series A, No. 1, p. 15.

Arbitral Tribunal, Benteler v. Belgium, Preliminary Award of 18 November 1983.

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Southern Pacific Properties (Middle East) Limited v. Arab Republic of Egypt, Award of 20 May 1992, ARB/84/3.

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Philippe Gruslin v. Malaysia, Discontinuance of 24 April 1996, ARB/94/1.

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, World Duty Free Company Limited v. The Republic of Kenya, Award of 4 October 2006, ARB/00/7.

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Desert Line Projects LLC v. The Republic of Yemen, Award of 6 February 2008, ARB/05/17.

C. Documents
German Neutrality Orders, 25/30 July 1920.
D. Doctrine

K. M’baye, “Commentary” in International Arbitration: 60 Years of ICC Arbitration: A Look at the Future, International Chamber of Commerce Publication 412, International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, 1984, p. 293.

P. Mayer, “La neutralisation du pouvoir normatif de l’Etat en matière de contrats d’Etat”, Journal du droit international, vol. 1, 1986, p. 5.

M. Mustill, “The New Lex Mercatoria: The First Twenty-Five Years”, in M. Bos and I. Brownlie (eds.), Liber Amicorum for Lord Wilberforce, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987, p. 149.