Introduction

Recent ICSID decisions seem to point in the direction of a developing regime of international property rights held by investors against states in which they invest. The move away from diplomatic protection, into the network of bilateral investment treaties (BITs), along with the jurisprudence of the ICSID tribunals, are beginning to represent a body of legal doctrine that, at least on its face, allows international investors to establish treaty rights that are held directly by themselves. The overarching legal question is whether the BIT framework generates property and contract ...