The Conditions for Audacity

Abstract

11 Complete independence from member states is not entirely possible. This is because international courts and tribunals have a subordinate nature since they derive their authority from a constitutive treaty signed and enforced by states or because their judges are elected or appointed by states. However, courts, as in the case of the European Court, may be able to carve out a space of autonomy for themselves over time. See John Merrills, "International Adjudication and Autonomy," in International Organizations and the Idea of Autonomy: Institutional Independence in the International Legal Order (New York: Routledge, 2011). 12 Authority exists in different forms, and it may have different marks; for more information, see Fuad Zarbiyev, "Saying Credibly What the Law Is: On Marks of Authority in International Law,"