Jutta Brunnée | Stability and Change in International Law: The Role of Practices of Legality

Lecture

Jutta Brunnée | Stability and Change in International Law: The Role of Practices of Legality

Professor Jutta Brunnée, Dean of Toronto Law School, gave the keynote speech opening the workshop on ‘State Silence Across International Law’. Building on the “interactional law” framework developed elsewhere, the lecture suggested that a particular approach to managing stability and change is inherent in legality, in international as in domestic law. The lecture focused on practices of legality, that is actions and argumentation that adhere to distinctive markers of legality, and show that both stability and change in law are dynamically sustained. Indeed, even the absence of verbal and/or physical acts – state silence – can be part of these dynamics. The lens of practices of legality sheds light on the legal significance of state conduct, including silence, and illuminates its role in promoting stability or change in law.