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NILR 2005BOOK REVIEWSc.f. amerasinghe, Principles of the Institutional Law of International Organizations, 2nd rev. edn., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, xxxiv + 535 pp., UK 29 / US$ 50. ISBN 0-521-54557-9 (paperback); UK 60 / US$ 100. ISBN 0-521-83714-6 (hardback).doi: 10.1017/S0165070X05212834
At the time when the rst edition of C.F. Amerasinghes book on international organizations was published there was a gap in the literature on the topic. There was a need for an up-to-date book that could serve as a manageable guide to institutional law for lawyers, academics, and students. Along came Principles of Institutional Law of International Organizations. The book became widely popular soon after its publication in 1996. In fact, it met the need so effectively that its structuring of institutional law is still today of some impact.1
The rst edition of the book has been reviewed several times. The merits of the book have been located in its general characterization of institutional law, in the identication of both possibilities and limits to the very idea of a law of organizations, and in pinpointing the relationship of institutional law to other areas of international law. The book has been applauded for being carefully structured and rich in its use of examples without being overly technical. As to the rare critical remarks, the book has been targeted for a certain lack of vision and argument. Additionally, the merely peripheral treatment of the World Trade Organization and the European Union has been regretted.2 Considering the extent to which the rst edition has been reviewed and given the fact that the newly published second edition is largely similar to the rst, a general overview can be dispensed with. Instead, a closer look can be had at the actual revision.
The rst question that arises is why a revision was necessary. Amerasinghe answers this question himself. The ever increasing attention paid to judicial organs of organizations required including them into the book (preface, p. XIII). Alongside some restructuring of the chapters and the general outline of the book, this revision is undertaken mainly through the inclusion of a completely new chapter on judicial organs. As a consequence, whereas the rst edition discussed judicial organs as a sub-chapter under the heading Organs of organizations, the second edition deals...