Retroactive effect of international and national law

Abstract

The issues of retroactivity of legal norms are among the most controversial issues in both international and national law. As the current practice of States shows, they are increasingly concluding international treaties and adopting domestic regulations with retroactive application, thus exercising their sovereign right to respond adequately and quickly to changing social relations and regulate their economies. The decisions of the highest (constitutional) national courts, as well as international courts and tribunals, play a significant role in shaping doctrinal and practical approaches to solving this problem. The practice of international courts such as the ECHR and the Court of Justice of the European Union, investment arbitrations and national constitutional courts of a number of countries, including the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, shows a lack of consensus on the issue of retroactivity beyond the criminal law. This indicates the absence of such a universally recognized principle of law as a general prohibition of retroactivity, if such retroactivity leads to infringement of the rights of individuals, as well as a universally recognized customary rule of international law with the same content.

References

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