Review Essay

• Cotula, Lorenzo

Abstract

Investment contracts are an important part of the web of legal relations that underpin investment processes. They raise complex doctrinal issues, including with regard to their interface with public international law. The two books under review are part of a new surge in academic writing about investment contracts, in a field that is currently dominated by concerns about investment treaties and treaty-based arbitration. In this review essay, I explore the intersections between investment contracts and international law, engaging with the arguments presented in the two books and developing reflections based on trends in the wider literature. After situating the contract in academic and policy debates about international investment law, I compare the different approaches the two books embody – in relation to their scope, focus and format as well as the ways in which they conceptualize and piece together the multiple commercial and public interests at stake in investment contracting. I then discuss one theme that features prominently in both books – namely, the legal contours of investment protection, particularly in connection with stabilization clauses – and I examine its articulation with public regulatory powers. I conclude by outlining areas that deserve further exploration in scholarly work on investment contracts and international law.