International Law in Austrian Courts

The research project "International Law in Domestic Courts" aims at responding to the needs of domestic judges and lawyers, as well as other practitioners and scholars dealing with international law, who want to access a broad range of material on international law in a comprehensively processed format. Based on a bottom-up approach, the project seeks to provide a carefully annotated compilation of the decisions of domestic courts .

Two main categories of cases are included: (a) cases relating to the reception and application of international law in the national legal order, and (b) cases relevant to the identification and interpretation of rules of international law. The first category of cases will be included provided they are of sufficient relevance in the light of international law. A useful criterion measuring "relevance" is whether the case can be expected to be cited by international courts, in scholarly work, or as authority for a particular point of international law. The second category of cases will be included if they confirm well-established rules of international law or point to the development of new international legal principles. Materially, these cases concern, for instance, principles of jurisdiction, immunities, State succession, responsibility, general principles (such as good faith or estoppel), or the law of treaties. In terms of functional fields covered, these will, for instance, include international aspects of human rights law, humanitarian law, criminal law, environmental law, and investment law. The project will help intensify international cooperation and further deepen the links of the University of Vienna to other international universities, thus contributing to the overall significance of this research institution.

Austrian Science Fund Project “International Law through the National Prism: the Impact of Judicial Dialogue”  (Since November 2011)

The research project “International Law through the National Prism: the Impact of Judicial Dialogue” (Austrian Science Fund Project I 581-G16) is part of a wider international collaborative research project under the ESF (European Science Foundation) ECRP programme with the same title (Project 10-ECRP-028). In the context of this project, an international conference entitled "Transnational Judicial Dialogue of Domestic Courts on International Organizations" will take place at the University of Vienna in April 2012.

Austrian Science Fund Project “International Law in Domestic Courts” (Since October 2010)

The research project "International Law in Domestic Courts" (Austrian Science Fund project number P22451-G16) has been developed and principally advanced by Professor August Reinisch in co-operation and consultation with leading scholars and experts in the field of international law together with the publisher Oxford University Press.

Based on a bottom-up approach, the academic significance of the project rests on a carefully annotated compilation of domestic cases decided by national courts dealing with international law in the form of a comprehensive online database, the "Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts". Currently, the database contains case law from more than 70 jurisdictions. In addition to the most important facts of each case and the text of the judgment including the most important international law holdings in expert English translations, the database contains a comprehensive search function by country, keyword or full text.

Austrian Science Fund Project “International Law in Domestic Courts” (2007 to 2010)

The current research project on “International Law in Domestic Courts” substantially and organisationally succeeds the Austrian Science Fund project on the same topic (FWF Project number P 19369-G11) which commenced on 1.1.2007 and was finalized on 30.6.2010. Information on the results of this project are included on this website.

International Law in Austrian Courts

is part of the international research network of

Oxford Reports on