| A tribute to Robert E. Hudec | |||||||
Abstract | |||||||
| Bob Hudec had the great good fortune to witness and make important contributions to the full evolution of the focus of his life s work, namely the GATT WTO legal system. When he began, the GATT had what he called a diplomat s jurisprudence , a state of affairs perhaps best exemplified by the fact that the member countries did not allow the Secretariat to have a formal Legal Division (or even a formal legal advisor) until 1983, 35 years after the GATT was established (the IMF had a General Counsel and a Legal Division the day it opened for business). By the 1980s the authority of legal obligations was playing a much more important role. Then, with the successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round, came the bold changes we are living with today: the automatic right to bring legal complaints before a dispute settlement tribunal, automatically binding legal rulings, appellate review, and an automatic right to impose retaliatory trade sanctions when the defendant government fails to comply with a legal ruling. | |||||||
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