Human Rights Treaties and Comparative Law
Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, Vol. 171, pp. 118-121, 2015
7 Pages Posted: 29 Mar 2015
Date Written: March 27, 2015
Abstract
This note comments on Mila Versteeg’s paper “Law versus Norms: The Impact of Human Rights Treaties on National Bills of Rights," available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2360814. Versteeg’s paper explores the relationship between international human rights treaties and domestic constitutions, using data on the adoption of 103 constitutional rights in 186 countries. This note suggests that this paper is an important contribution to international law and policy, quantitative and empirical legal research, and comparative law. The main comments will focus on the latter area of research and discuss the relationship between some of the paper’s findings and three frequent topics of contemporary comparative law.
Keywords: comparative law, constitutions, international human rights treaties
JEL Classification: K19, C21, O33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation