International investment law is one of fastest-growing areas of international law, but it is plagued by the vagueness of many investors' rights and unpredictable investment tribunal decisions. This books analyses international investment law through the lens of comparative public law to clarify investment treaty obligations and arbitral procedure.

Outlines a general theory of whether and how to include public interest concerns in the realm of international investment law.

The book argues that international investment law is a structured body of law based on uniform principles of investment protection.

Jürgen Kurtz provides a theoretically grounded and doctrinally tractable framework to understand the relationship between international trade and investment law.

The Oxford Handbooks series is a major new initiative in academic publishing. Each volume offers an authoritative and state-of-the-art survey of current thinking and research in a particular subject area. Specially commissioned essays from leading international figures in the discipline give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates. Oxford Handbooks provide scholars and graduate students with compelling new perspectives upon a wide range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences. The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law aims to provide the first truly exhaustive account of the current state and future development of this important and topical field of international law. The Handbook is divided into three main parts. Part One deals with fundamental conceptual issues, Part Two deals with the main substantive areas of law, and Part Three deals with the major procedural issues arising out of the settlement of international investment disputes. The book has a policy-oriented introduction, setting the more technical chapters that follow in their policy environment within which contemporary norms for international foreign investment law are evolving. The Handbook concludes with a chapter written by the editors to highlight the major conclusions of the collection, to identify trends in the existing law, and to look forward to the future development of this field.

Transnational investment involves a variety of actors (States, public and private legal entities, and natural persons) whose relationships are governed by rules and legal instruments belonging to different legal systems. This book provides a systematic study of the sources of rights and obligations in the field of transnational investment, and their coordination and interaction. It focuses primarily on the network of over 3,000 Bilateral Investment Treaties, international investment contracts, customary international law, the main multilateral treaties, national legislation, international case law and general principles of law. The book, firmly based on State practice, arbitral awards and national decisions, is indispensable to fully appraise the nature and content of the claims of private investors as well as to identify the law applicable in investment arbitration.

International investment law is one of the most dynamic fields of international law, and yet it has been criticised for failing to strike a fair balance between private and public interests. In this valuable contribution to the current debate, Valentina Vadi examines the merits and pitfalls of arbitral tribunals’ use of the concepts of proportionality and reasonableness to review the compatibility of a state’s regulatory actions with its obligations under international investment law.