Adjudicative bilateralism and community interests

The essay explores the two main ways in which community interests are taken into account in international adjudication. First, special procedural tools have been devised in order to accommodate the multilateral dimension of certain disputes into the traditionally bilateral scheme of international adjudication. It is shown that such tools have been of little use for the protection of community interests. Second, legal relations engendered by community interests can be conceptualized in a bilateral manner so that they could fit adjudicative bilateralism. It may seem counterintuitive, but it is maintained that this second avenue offers the most concrete, yet not entirely satisfactory, means to adjudicate community interests. Finally, the essay argues that the Monetary Gold rule proves a useful test to properly understand the different logic of these two avenues.