“The legitimacy of the African Court at strife with state sovereignty: a structural and institutional dilemma.”

International courts have historically grasped with contestations from States about the ambit and limits of jurisdictional powers. Issues of sovereignty remain at the forefront of such challenge.

From the margin of appreciation to subsidiarity, courts such as the ICJ, the European Court of Human Rights, and Inter American Court of Human Rights have dealt with such quandaries.

Challenging arising are inherent both in the norms being applied; and the institutional practices adopted.

One murky water that international courts ought to navigate in this respect is that of the border between law and politics.