Part 4 Domestic Constitutional Aspects, 14 Treaty Interpretation, Subsequent Agreements and Practice, and Domestic Constitutions

The tension between domestic constitutions and the expansive interpretation of treaties as a matter of international law is easy to state. Nations give their consent to a particular treaty, usually in a constitutionally prescribed way. If international law permits the meaning of the treaty to change over time, states are accordingly bound by new treaty terms that did not receive consent through domestic treaty-approval processes. This could, in turn, pose questions of domestic constitutional law, democratic accountability, legitimacy, and political pushback. Yet...