Sir Thomas More Lecture 2025: ‘Consent and the Rule of International Law: the evolving role of international tribunals in an unstable world’
Continued respect for the authority of international law and those who seek to uphold the rule of law is certainly not assured.
Judge Kathy-Ann Brown
On 16 October Judge Kathy-Ann Brown, a judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea since 2020 and is a member of the Seabed Disputes Chamber, gave the annual Sir Thomas More Lecture at the Inn, titled ‘Consent and the Rule of International Law: the evolving role of international tribunals in an unstable world’, which examined the importance of consent in upholding the rule of law and the delicate balance courts must strike in politically charged international disputes.
Reflecting on Sir Thomas More’s principled caution, Judge Brown asked when international courts should “remain cautiously silent”, warning that growing challenges to judicial legitimacy risk eroding the international legal order.