International commercial courts: reshaping the modern era of adjudication

The emergence of International Commercial Courts (ICCs) in the context of transnational adjudication is a striking development that raises and prompts core questions for legal scholars: What exactly are International Commercial Courts? Who are the key actors driving this innovation—both internationally and within the Italian legal system? And more broadly, what implications do these developments hold for theories of civil procedural harmonization? This research seeks to address these questions by introducing the origins, defining features, and key functions of International Commercial Courts, highlighting their role at the intersection of litigation and arbitration. It then offers a comparative and taxonomic framework for analyzing the global rise of ICCs—from London and New York to the Middle Eastern jurisdictions, across Europe and China, and finally to the draft legislative proposal in Italy. In this context, emphasis will be placed on their institutional development and civil procedural features within the broader system of international commercial dispute resolution. Building on this comparative analysis, the study argues that ICCs have become pivotal forums for advancing a modern iteration of the lex mercatoria along two complementary dimensions. At the vertical level, harmonization is primarily fostered through the decisions of ICCs, which increasingly apply or refer to soft law instruments such as the UNCITRAL Model Law. At the horizontal level, harmonization advances through direct communication between courts and a broader transnational judicial dialogue, exemplified by initiatives such as the Standing Forum of International Commercial Courts and the ELI–UNIDROIT framework.