Due Diligence in the International Legal Order

Due diligence is a prominent concept in international law, frequently referred to in arbitral awards, court decisions, and in scholarly discussions on state responsibility. However, until now, the specific normative content and systemic relation of due diligence to rules and principles of international law has largely remained unexplored. The present book provides a comprehensive analysis of the content, scope, and function of due diligence across various areas of international law, including international environmental law, international peace and security law, and international economic law.

Sector by sector, contributors explore the diverse interactions between due diligence and area-specific substantive and procedural rules as well as general principles of international law. This book exposes the promises and limits of due diligence for enhancing accountability and compliance. It identifies the rise of due diligence as both a driver and signal of change in the international legal order towards risk management and proceduralisation.

Heike Krieger holds the Chair for International and Public Law at the Freie Universit�t Berlin. She is Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, and chair of the Berlin Potsdam Research Group (Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe) ’The International Rule of Law - Rise or Decline?’ (funded by the German Research Foundation). Between 2007 and 2014 she acted as a judge of the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin. She has represented the German parliament before the German Constitutional Court and acted as counsel for the German government before the European Court of Human Rights. She is a member of the Holberg Committee. Her research focusses on general international law, international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Anne Peters is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Heidelberg, Professor at Heidelberg, Basel, and Freie Universit�t Berlin, and a William W. Cook Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan. She has been a member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) in respect of Germany (2011-2015) and served as the President of the European Society of International Law (2010-2012). She is currently Chairwoman of the German Society of International Law (DGIR). Her current research interests relate to public international law including its history, global animal law, global governance and global constitutionalism, and the status of humans in international law.

Leonhard Kreuzer is Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Heidelberg and a PhD candidate at the Freie Universit�t Berlin. He is a member of the editorial board of the V�lkerrechtsblog.