Procedural Aspects of Shared Responsibility in International Adjudication: Introduction

The procedural rules of international courts are key to the ability of such courts to adjudicate questions of shared responsibility. These procedural rules, as well as the practice of international courts, vary widely and have not yet been subject of systematic study. To provide a basis for studying the degree in which international courts can effectively adjudicate claims against multiple responsible actors, this contribution will provide an analytical framework. This framework consists of four elements: a definition of ‘shared responsibility’ and ‘procedural rules of international adjudication’; a typology of procedural rules that are relevant to judicial handling of questions of shared responsibility; an identification of procedural rules that are specific to questions of shared responsibility, and of those procedural rules that are more generally typical for multilateral dispute settlement; and an identification of factors that account for differences between international courts in terms of their ability to handle questions of shared responsibility.