Part I Foundational Issues, 2 Current Theorizations about the Treaty in International Law

Subject(s):

Sources of international law — Law of treaties

This chapter has two primary aims. First, it sketches out the existing theorizations about treaties, elaborating the various dualist modes of thinking currently dominating international legal thought and practice. Second, it seeks to supplement current theorizations with some new perspectives. Specifically, it identifies three overlooked uses of the idea of the treaty in contemporary legal thought and practice that may further current theorizations about treaties. In particular, the second part shows the extent to which the idea of the treaty allows (i) the creation of conceptual anachronisms in the making of historical narratives about international law, (ii) the simplification of the processes of its interpretation, and (iii) the construction of a magic descendance that shield those invoking the treaty from any responsibility for anything that is made in the name of the treaty.