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Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law [MPEiPro]

Authoritative Interpretation

Ingo Venzke

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 10 December 2024

Subject(s):
International courts and tribunals, procedure — Rules of treaty interpretation — Treaties, interpretation

Published under the direction of Hélène Ruiz Fabri, with the support of the Department of International Law and Dispute Resolution, under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law.

1 Since the law cannot speak, it is the practice of interpretation that brings it to life. Interpretations are claims, supported by arguments, about what the law means. They make and shape international law and are thus part of the struggle for the law (Interpretation in International Law). What does the law mean? And who decides? Those are the theoretical and practical terrains on which the idea of authoritative interpretation gains shape. The idea is wrought by the question of whose interpretation matters and to what degree. 2 As such, the idea of authoritative...
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