The international economic order of the late fifties and early sixties was still fascinated by the so-called salt-water colonialism. This appears from international legal attempts at that time to offer more protection to foreign investors than was available to their host countries. The mid-sixties inaugurated a new era by reversing this trend. Legal aspects of the settlement of investment disputes between States and nationals of other States, such as stabilization clauses and the choice of both forum and applicable law, thus in the seventies became subordinate to the discretionary powers of host States, whether or not a party to a contract. A possible consensus regarding the 1974 Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States (CERDS) was even abandoned because of this prevailing view. The real challenge in this period formed the establishment of a New International Economic Order (NIEO) moulded in a predominantly political blue-print for the development of States as the sole or main actors in international economic relations.

International fluvial law is one branch of international law that presents thestudent of international law with a seemingly irreconcilable paradox. On the one hand, judging from the scanty treatment often given to the issue in the standard treatises (and its almost complete absence from college syllabi), one could easily conclude that international fluvial law is only to be located on the periphery of international law; that it is a fringe subject, just as air law and space law were regarded only half a century ago. But, on the other hand, a more patient enquiry into the history and development of international law soon reveals that, in fact, international law has been concerned with the regulation of international watercourses (lakes, rivers, etc.,) for a long time, with individual pronouncements by publicists dating back to the writings of the acclaimed ‘fathers’ of international law: Grotius, Pufendorf and Vattel. Viewed from this angle, then, international fluvial law, or the law of international watercourses, lies at the very core, rather than on the fringes, of the historical development of international law. Indeed, it is apt to observe that the history of the modern international organization, and thus the advent of the law of international institutions, dates back to the establishment of the various international commissions by European States in respect of some of the major international rivers in Europe between 1815 and 1866: the Rhine Commission (1815), the European Commission for the Danube (1856) and those dealing with the Elbe (1821), the Douro (1835), the Po (1849) and the Pruth (1866).

The Board of Editors of this review has asked us to write an essay on the recent developments in the relationship between the legislature and the judiciary in the Netherlands. We have gladly accepted this invitation because an analysis of these developments enables us to outline one of the most fundamental trends in the Dutch legal system during the last few years. We believe that this outline may be of interest to Dutch and foreign readers alike.