Conventionality Control and the Limits of Pro Persona Jurisprudence

In Conventionality Control of Domestic Law: Constitutionalised International Adjudication and Internationalised Constitutional Adjudication, Yota Negishi advances a theory of conventionality control, a doctrine of interaction between international human rights law and national law, that puts at the center of such interaction the pro persona principle. This commentary analyses Negishi’s work, highlighting its major contributions and noting what it sees as problematic areas of the theory, in particular, the over reliance on the principle, and its use as a mechanism to allocate judicial competences. The commentary notes how the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ use of the principle can explain some of its most expansive caselaw, a caselaw that has come under scrutiny by members of the Court and that deserves serious attention by legal scholars.