The Case for an International Court of Civil Justice

When multinational corporations cause mass harms to lives, livelihoods, and the environment in developing countries, it is nearly impossible for victims to find a court that can and will issue an enforceable judgment. In this work, Professor Maya Steinitz presents a detailed rationale for the creation of an International Court of Civil Justice (ICCJ) to hear such transnational mass tort cases. The world's legal systems were not designed to solve these kinds of complex transnational disputes, and the absence of mechanisms to ensure coordination means that victims try, but fail, to find justice in country after country, court after court. The Case for an International Court of Civil Justice explains how an ICCJ would provide victims with access to justice and corporate defendants with a non-corrupt forum and an end to the cost and uncertainty of unending litigation - more efficiently resolving the most complicated types of civil litigation.

Introduction; 1. How new international courts come into being; 2. The stories behind the cases: the Bhopal disaster, the devastation of the Ecuadorian Amazon, and the abuse and murder of Dr Kiobel; 3. The problem of the missing forum; 4. The business case for the ICCJ; 5. Institutional and procedural features of an ICCJ; Conclusion.

Maya Steinitz is a Professor and Bouma Family Fellow in Law at the University of Iowa College of Law and has taught courses at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Tel Aviv University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She served as a litigator in one of the nation's top law firms, Latham & Watkins LLP, and clerked for the Honourable E. Hayut, currently Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court. Steinitz led the representation of the government of Southern Sudan in drafting its national and sub-national constitutions and regularly serves as an arbitrator, expert, and counsel in international and domestic arbitrations.