The mission of The Italian Yearbook of International Law is to make accessible to the English speaking public the Italian contribution to the practice and literature of international law. Volume XIX (2009) features a series of contributions arising from a Symposium on “International Law in Italian Courts: Ten Years of Jurisprudence” held in April 2010 at the European University Institute. Following a general article on the substantive and methodological issues arising from the Italian jurisprudence relating to international law in the past decade, this section focuses on four specific areas of jurisprudential development which have attracted widespread interest as well as criticism. These areas are: i) jurisdictional immunities of foreign States and international organizations; ii) international terrorism; iii) treatment of migrants; iv) execution of human rights obligations flowing from the ECHR. Each of these is dealt with by way of a general article followed by comments from leading scholars in the respective fields (e.g. Reinisch, Nollkaemper, Scheinin). The general coordination of the Symposium has been ensured by Riccardo Pavoni.
The doctrinal section of the volume is complemented by a variety of notes covering such significant topics as reparations for wartime damage, the legal basis of Security Council Chapter VII resolutions, and the status of military sunken vessels. Surveys on the activities of the ICJ, the ITLOS, the ECtHR, ICSID, and international criminal courts and tribunals occupy the rest of this section.
The second section of the volume covers the Italian practice in the areas of i) judicial decisions; ii) diplomatic and parliamentary practice; iii) treaty practice; and iv) national legislation. The third section contains a systematic bibliographical index of Italian literature in the field of international law and reviews of recent books. The volume ends with an analytical index for ready consultation which includes the main judicial cases and legal instruments cited throughout the Yearbook.