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Contents
- Preliminary Material
- Main Text
- Part I Overview, History, Materials, and Dramatis Personae
- Preliminary Material
- 1 A Single Set of Rules of Interpretation
- Preliminary Material
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Applicability of the Vienna Rules Generally
- 3 Definitions and Key Concepts
- 4 The Process of Interpretation and the Nature of the Rules
- 5 Five Examples
- 5.1 Interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights— a typical approach
- 5.2 An arbitral award illustrating the difference between treaty interpretation and application of law
- 5.3 An interpretation by an arbitral tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)—interpretation and application of a treaty
- 5.4 Interpretation within a national legal system— contrasting application of Vienna rules and domestic precedent
- 5.5 Interpretation within a national legal system— increasing awareness of the Vienna rules in courts in the UK
- 2 Development of Rules of Interpretation
- Preliminary Material
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Treaty Interpretation in the Greco-Roman Era
- 3 Grotius, Pufendorf, Vattel, and Canons of Interpretation
- 4 The Harvard Draft Convention on the Law of Treaties
- 5 The Permanent Court of International Justice
- 6 Restrictive Interpretation and Effectiveness
- 7 Institut de Droit International
- 8 The Practice of the International Court of Justice Before the Vienna Convention
- 9 The New Haven School and World Public Order
- 10 The Work of the International Law Commission and the Vienna Conference
- 3 Interpretative Material Generated in Making Treaties
- Preliminary Material
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Making Treaties
- 3 Reservations and Statements or Declarations Affecting Interpretation of Treaties
- 4 Preparatory Materials
- 4 Who Uses the Vienna Convention to Interpret Treaties?
- Preliminary Material
- 1 Introduction
- 2 International Organizations
- 3 International Courts and Tribunals
- 3.1 International Court of Justice
- 3.2 Arbitration
- 3.3 The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Understanding
- 3.4 The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
- 3.5 The European Court of Human Rights
- 3.6 The European Court of Justice (Court of Justice of the European Union)
- 3.7 Other international courts and tribunals
- 4 National Legal Systems
- Part II Interpretation Applying the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
- A The General Rule
- 5 The General Rule: (1) The Treaty, its Terms, and their Ordinary Meaning
- Preliminary Material
- 1 A ‘Treaty’
- 2 ‘Good Faith’
- 3 ‘Ordinary Meaning’
- 4 ‘Context’
- 5 ‘Object and Purpose’
- 5.1 History and preparatory work relating to ‘object and purpose’
- 5.2 Ordinary meaning of ‘object and purpose’ in context
- 5.3 Issues and practice
- 5.3.1 Singular object and purpose
- 5.3.2 Finding object and purpose from preamble and substantive provisions
- 5.3.3 Can the object and purpose be used to counter clear substantive provisions?
- 5.3.4 Object and purpose identifying general scope of treaty
- 5.3.5 Object and purpose in a particular provision
- 5.3.6 Principle of effectiveness (general)
- 6 Conclusions
- 6 The General Rule: (2) Agreements as Context, Subsequent Agreements, and Subsequent Practice
- Preliminary Material
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Agreements and Instruments Made in Connection with Conclusion of a Treaty
- 3 Subsequent Agreements
- 4 Subsequent Practice
- 4.1 Elements of subsequent practice
- 4.1.1 History and development of the provision
- 4.1.2 Meaning of ‘subsequent practice’
- 4.1.3 Frequency and uniformity of practice
- 4.1.4 Practice may consist of executive, legislative, and judicial acts
- 4.1.5 ‘Subsequent practice’ and ‘subsequent conduct’ distinguished
- 4.1.6 Practice ‘in the application of the treaty’
- 4.2 Deduction from absence of subsequent practice
- 4.3 Parties participating in the practice
- 4.4 ‘Establishing’ agreement
- 4.5 Subsequent practice linked with informal agreement, understandings, or other instruments
- 4.6 Subsequent practice and ‘evolutive’ interpretation distinguished
- 4.7 Subsequent practice and amendment differentiated
- 4.8 Subsequent practice in international organizations
- 4.9 Possible overlap with relevant rules of international law
- 4.1 Elements of subsequent practice
- 5 Conclusions
- 7 The General Rule: (3) Relevant Rules of International Law and Special Meanings
- Preliminary Material
- 1 Introduction
- 2 History and Preparatory Work of Article 31(3)(c)
- 3 Ordinary Meaning of Article 31(3)(c) in Context, etc
- 4 Issues and Practice
- 4.1 Terms
- 4.1.1 Extent of relevant ‘international law’
- 4.1.2 ‘Rules’
- 4.1.3 Applicable in the relations between which ‘parties’?
- (i) All parties to the treaty being interpreted must be parties to any other treaty being used
- (ii) All parties to the dispute over interpretation must be parties to any other treaty being used
- (iii) A rule being invoked from any other treaty must be shown to be a customary rule
- (iv) A rule being invoked in another treaty must have been implicitly accepted or tolerated by all parties to the treaty under interpretation
- 4.1.4 Conclusion as to ‘parties’
- 4.2 Intertemporal and temporal issues
- 4.3 Clarifying meaning by reference to international law
- 4.4 Reference to other treaties
- 4.5 Filling gaps by reference to general international law
- 4.6 Parallel and conflicting obligations
- 4.7 Taking account of international law developments
- 4.1 Terms
- 5 Special Meanings
- 6 Conclusions
- 5 The General Rule: (1) The Treaty, its Terms, and their Ordinary Meaning
- B Supplementary Means of Interpretation
- 8 Supplementary Means of Interpretation
- Preliminary Material
- 1 Introduction
- 2 History and Preparatory Work
- 3 Meaning of ‘Recourse’ and ‘Supplementary’
- 4 Issues and Practice
- 4.1 Systematic use of gateways, unsystematic use, and by-passing them
- 4.2 Confirming meaning
- 4.2.1 Confirming a clear meaning
- 4.2.2 Role of ‘confirming’ when preparatory work contradicts meaning afforded by application of general rule
- 4.2.3 Using supplementary means to confirm ‘intention’
- 4.2.4 Using supplementary means to ‘reinforce’ an interpretation
- 4.2.5 Using preparatory work as general support
- 4.2.6 Reciting and using preparatory work contrasted
- 4.3 Determining meaning
- 4.4 Modalities of use of supplementary means
- 4.4.1 Using and construing preparatory work
- 4.4.2 Reading preparatory work to show agreement to exclude
- 4.4.3 Deduction from absence from preparatory work
- 4.4.4 Change of word or words during negotiation of treaty
- 4.4.5 Exclusion of preparatory work from consideration
- 4.4.6 May preparatory work be deployed as context?
- 4.4.7 Using preparatory work to identify or confirm object and purpose
- 4.4.8 Effect of interpretation recorded in preparatory work
- 4.4.9 Reading preparatory work in combination with other supplementary means
- 4.5 Circumstances of conclusion and other supplementary means
- 5 Conclusions
- 8 Supplementary Means of Interpretation
- C Languages
- 9 Languages
- Preliminary Material
- 1 Introduction
- 2 History and Preparatory Work
- 3 Ordinary Meaning of Terms in Article 33
- 4 Issues and Practice
- 4.1 Interpretation by reference first to only one of several languages
- 4.2 Use of ‘versions’, ‘official’, and other texts
- 4.3 Presumption of the same meaning in all authentic texts
- 4.4 How many languages must be considered if there is a need to reconcile texts?
- 4.5 Is the ‘original’ language of a treaty particularly significant for interpretation?
- 4.6 Translation of terms and legal concepts in different languages
- 4.7 Reconciliation where one or more texts are clear but another is ambiguous
- 4.8 Different punctuation in different languages
- 4.9 Reconciliation of language differences by reference to object and purpose
- 4.10 Using preparatory work in reconciling differences between languages
- 5 Conclusions
- 9 Languages
- A The General Rule
- Part III Conclusion
- 10 Criticism, Themes, Issues, and Conclusions
- Part I Overview, History, Materials, and Dramatis Personae
- Further Material