Oktawian Kuc

Institution: University of Warsaw

Period of stay: May 2024

Contact: o.kuc@wpia.uw.edu.pl

https://wpia.uw.edu.pl/pl/pracownicy/oktawian-kuc

Profile: 

Dr Oktawian Kuc currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Warsaw. He holds a Master's in Law from the University of Warsaw ('11), an LL.M. from Harvard Law School ('12), and a Doctorate in Public International Law from the University of Warsaw ('17). Additionally, he has completed studies at the Hague Academy of International Law.

Before entering academia, Dr. Kuc gained valuable experience working as a Legal/Policy Officer at the United Nations Office in Geneva. He is admitted to the bar in Poland and New York State, with experience practicing law in international and boutique law firms, as an In-House Counsel and in governmental roles.

Dr. Kuc has been recognized for his scholarly contributions, having been awarded fellowships such as the ASIL Helton Fellowship and a DAAD Fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg.

Research Area:

Public International Law, International Dispute Resolution, Interplay between International and Domestic Law

Research Title:

International Jurisprudance in Domestic Courts

Research Outline:

A research stay at the Lauterpacht Centre is part of the research project titled 'International Jurisprudence in Domestic Courts,' funded by the Polish National Science Centre, of which Dr. Kuc is the Principal Investigator.

Contemporary processes of globalization cause profound changes within the international legal system. We are witnessing a substantial proliferation of international regulations and their scope has not only extensively widened, but concurrently profoundly deepened. It results in a significant overlap of national and international norms. Simultaneously, international law confers more extensive rights on individuals and private parties, who are determined to safeguard them in judicial proceedings in all available fora. Consequently, domestic courts decide presently on cases and disputes, which few decades ago were reserved exclusively for international tribunals. Parallelly, judicialization of international relations is occurring. After the Cold War many new international tribunals with wide scopes of jurisdiction have been established. Furthermore, traditional tribunals, for example the International Court of Justice in The Hague, are struggling with a sharp increase in the number of disputes being brought before them for settlement. Thus, the international jurisprudence is growing.
All those changes result in bringing international tribunals and domestic courts closer together in exercising their functions. The former more frequently consult domestic judicial decision in interpreting international agreements and determining norms of customary law. Domestic judgments are as well often a subject of a dispute to be resolved by international judges. Their national counterparts similarly refer to and cite international jurisprudence while applying international law. From time to time, parties to proceedings seek to enforce international decision in an internal legal order via national courts.

The goal of the research project is to examine what is the status and role of international jurisprudence in domestic courts in relation to judicial decisions they render. This question will be addressed from the perspective of both public international law as well of selected national constitutional regimes. In line with the assumptions of the proposed research, both a theoretical (existing legal regulations) and practical (their application in judicial practice) aspects will be analysed in detail.

The structure of the project consists of three basic components, what is also reflected in the research plan. The first one concentrates on the analysis of the international normative material (relevant treaties, customary law, jurisprudence) and existing legal doctrinal studies. The second part of the project utilizes the legal-comparative method to verify the status and role of international tribunal judgments in selected national jurisdictions. The third element of the project is national in nature. The relevant provisions of Polish constitutional law and the practice of higher Polish courts will be analysed in relation to judgments of international tribunals. This research task will be supplemented with a survey conducted among Polish judges on their experiences with international jurisprudence.

Publications:

The International Court of Justice and Municipal Courts. An Inter-Judicial Dialogue, Routlegde 2022, https://www.routledge.com/The-International-Court-of-Justice-and-Municip...

BBNJ Treaty and the ITLOS Advisory Jurisdiction, EJIL:Talk! 2024, https://www.ejiltalk.org/bbnj-treaty-and-the-itlos-advisory-jurisdiction/

Russian Properties in Warsaw. Decades-long Polish-Russian Diplomatic and Legal Battles for Parity and the Questions of Immunities in Polish Courts, Polish Yearbook of International Law Vol. 42, https://journals.pan.pl/Content/130100/PDF/PYIL_42_2022_14_Kuc.pdf?handl...

Obligation to comply with ICJ decisions. The jurisdictional immunities saga within the Italian legal order, Studia Iuridica Vol. 102 (2024), https://studiaiuridica.pl/resources/html/articlesList?issueId=16184

Investment Policy Monitor: Special Issue - National Security-Related Screening Mechanisms for Foreign Investment: An Analysis of Recent Policy Developments, UNCTAD Investment Policy Monitor 2019, https://unctad.org/news/special-investment-policy-monitor-indicates-case...

Krstić Case Continued. Decision of the Circuit Court in Warsaw of 6 December 2012, Polish Yearbook of International Law Vol. 32, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2407599
 

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