The jurisprudence of GATT & WTO. Insights of treaty law and economic relations.

• Author: Rioseco, Diego
• Position: Rese

John H. Jackson Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002; 512 páginas

Having been called by the academic world a true pioneer of international trade law, John H. Jackson is known today as one of the leading academic experts on GATT and WTO law. Although this would have been enough to recommend this book, at would not have been fair to our readers, especially because of its real value.

This time we have before us a selection of Jackson's scholarly production, considered some authors as a lifelong testimony because of the writer's of strict chronological insights, into topics of the evolving GATT and WTO law, at the time the events took place, and equally as a testament of his experience and ability, his prolific and continuing contribution to scholarship of international law, and his appreciation of the systematic issues involved in the evolution of GATT and now of WTO. Therefore, we believe this book constitutes unavoidable reading material to for all those who would like to learn more about these important international institutions and their undeniable impact on world trade.

The author's contribution in this book is bringing together his most important essays and articles published over four decades, the largest sample of his vast output in this area. The articles have been selected by the author himself for their continuing timeliness and relevance to contemporary issues in international trade, and give us a real insight regarding treaty law and economic relations over the last four decades. An important aspect of this vast selection is the possibility of having access to updated material, which up to how had not been available to the common reader.

The above explains why the books is excellent material for academic researchers, government officials or practising lawyers, for getting more acquainted with the law and policy framework of the GATT / WTO trading system and its underlying institutional checks and balances. By bringing together a number of papers on related topics, the book provides us with more convenient access and therefore a better opportunity to detect general trends running through them, as well as to compare a single's author's approaches to various subjects matters. Without any doubt, the books is a contribution to understanding the main technical problems raised by international economic regulation.

Following the author's structure we shall explore the main aspects of the six thematic parts which are strictly interrelated, going from the origin of GATT, to the Uruguay round of trade negotiations and finally to the present WTO.

Part I, entitled "A view of the landscape" is an overview of the starting point of international economic law, and develops some of the policy objectives underlying the subject. The first part of the article describes the author's point of view former and, towards the end of the essay, he states his current views regarding the current direction of the world trading system and WTO. As he puts it, this part provides a real and anticipated "bookend" of the whole work. The will certainly be more understandable to the reader when he comes to the end of part VI.

Chapter 1 of part II, entitled "The GATT and its troubled origins", detailed articles about the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), starting from a description of its very unusual and peculiar birth in 1947 and 1948, which deeply shaped its history, along with the unfortunate story...