The Legitimacy and Ethics of International Commercial Court Judges

This chapter examines the link between the legitimacy of international commercial courts and the ethics of their judges. It starts from the premise that the professional ethics of judges are not only a matter of their personal and professional integrity. Instead, the chapter argues, the international and cross-cultural context of international commercial courts may affect what is considered appropriate for a judge. To demonstrate this argument, the chapter analyses ethical rules regarding ex parte communication between judges and parties or their lawyers, and the cultural differences among legal systems. It concludes by calling on the host States to commit energy and resources to develop separate codes of conduct for the judges presiding in the international commercial courts that they have created.