Disjunctions: The Legal Nature of the Clean Hands Doctrine in International Investment Arbitration
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18272/ulr.v12i2.3919Keywords:
International arbitration, investment, corruption, clean hands doctrine, legal natureAbstract
There are several limitations to the protection of foreign investments. One of them is the doctrine of clean hands, a figure that seeks to prevent investors from accessing alternative dispute resolution, such as arbitration, when they have carried out acts classified as corruption. In this sense, the legal nature of such figure, applicable by arbitration tribunals, is controversial. It can be applied as a requirement of legality of a bilateral investment treaty, a truly international public policy, or a general principle of international law. This study analyzed, through an integrated methodology, the international system of protections as a fundamental institution, the doctrine of clean hands as a maxim of equity, and the most acclaimed awards in the literature, to demonstrate that the essence of the doctrine cannot be other than that conditioned upon the existence of a ‘remission’ clause to domestic law within investment treaties.
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