SPORTS LAW

(Submission towards fulfilment of the CA-I examination in the subject.)

Submitted by:

Anirudh Sood

Roll number: 1496

One Thousand Four Hundred and Ninety Six

Semester VIII

B.B.A. LL.B. (Busi. Hons.)

 QUESTION I

I. INTRODUCTION.

There is a distinction between 'international sports law' and 'global sports law'. International
sports law can be applied by national courts. Global sports law by contrast implies a claim of
immunity from national law. Some authors have used the concept 'lex sportiva' in a
superficial manner to describe what is happening with the globalisation of sports law, which
creates confusion.

The key bases for differentiation between the two laws (former being characteristics of
international sports law):

1. Where are they arising from: treaties or some international agreement?

2. Procedural independence: rule of law or independent procedural requirements?
3. Application of national law principles: application of them or non-application?
4. Amount of autonomy: less autonomy or full autonomy?

II. DETAILED DIFFERENTIATION.

• APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW PRINCIPLES.

Authors like Nafzinger have argued that, 'as an authoritative process of decision-making and
legal discipline, international sports law is as much a matter of international law as of sports
law'. He clearly sees it as a branch of international law. For them, one of the chief aspects of
international sports law is that it uses the jus commune, that is, the general principles of
international law.

When these principles are discussed, it implies the application of basic protections, such as
due process and the right to a fair hearing, are by this route incorporated into sport and
represent a 'rule of law' in sport. Authors like Mertens have listed principles such as pacta
sunt servanda, equity, the doctrine of proportionality, doctrines of personal liability, the
prohibition of unjust enrichment, etc. to be applicable to sports law.

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However, global sports law relies on being able to show that international sporting
federations can create their own norms. These are created in the practice, rules and
regulations of international sporting federations.

• THE ISSUE WITH ‘LEX SPORTIVA’

The confusion arises mainly due to the usage of the word ‘Lex Sportiva’. Lex sportiva, as
defined by Beloff, has three main elements:

 it has transnational norms generated by the rules and practices of international

sporting federations,
 it has a unique jurisprudence, with legal principles that are different from those of
national courts, and which is declared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and
 it is constitutionally autonomous from national law.

This describes “global sports law” as the international bodies are independent form the
national courts/institutions and arise out of international agreements between bodies and not
“treaties”. Even the courts in the global sports law system, e.g. the Court of Arbitration for
Sport, arises out of the powers conferred to it by the International Olympic Committee. This,
autonomy of decision-making, should be at the very core of any sports law.

III. CONCLUSION

Thus, both terms are different from each other as they envision the substantive & procedural
rules to be different, deriving from international law principles. This directly impacts the
autonomy of the institutions as they are not free to interpret the procedures and substantive
law by themselves. This, however, is a fundamental pillar of arbitration as well: that the
tribunal is able to decide on its own rules of procedures and evidence. Thus, at the core of the
differentiation lies the issue of autonomy: what do we want our international institutions to be
like from that perspective.

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 QUESTION II

I. INTRODUCTION

In the author’s opinion, e-sports don’t satisfy the elements constituting the term “sports”. It
should be considered a “game” due to the absence of a “physical component”. Traditionally,
sport has been understood as - “sport involves a physical component, it is competitive, and it
is institutionalized, meaning a governing body establishes the rules of performance.”

IV. LAW ON THE ISSUE

The constitutive elements of sports are as follows –

• PHYSICAL COMPONENT .

There must be some physical activity/exertion on part of players which should be linked to
determination of the outcome of the sport. E.g. chess falls out of this ambit of “sport” because
of this reason. However, defining the threshold for physical activity is difficult. E.g. Billiards
or snooker also don’t require a lot of physical activity and there are a lot of sports which lie
on the wide spectrum of this scale.

The reasoning given by the IOC is that the objective behind sport is to be “active” and not
just sit at home.
• INSITUTIZONALISATION .

E-sports are institutionalized with gaming events for games like Pub-G, Dota, etc. taking
place at a global level under respective organizations. E.g.: “British e-sport association” is an
organization conducting such tournaments.
• COMPETITION .

E-sports are competitive with games having winning being the primary objectives. It is
mostly a zero-sum game and ultimately there is one winner. The outcome is unpredictable
and not by luck/chance. Whoever is more skilful, wins.
• GAME OF SKILL.

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E-sport definitely involve skill which is acquired via training by professional games for
several hours to master each and every element of gaming. There is hand eye co-ordination,
muscle memory, reflexes, etc. All these things definitely constitute “skill”.

V. CONCLUSION

The argument that for participating in e-sport, there is a requirement of some level of fine
motor movements doesn’t stand, in the author’s opinion. Even the movements happening
might just be the raising of a finger by an inch for pressing a key on the keyboard. It has been
a longstanding view of the committee to not include games like chess and applying
precedent, e-sports should also not be allowed. Thus, allowing e-sports leads to a slippery
slope.

However besides the “physical component”, all other requirements are fulifilled for e-sport to
be a sport. Moreover, elements like honesty and integrity are also a part of e-sports.

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