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Oxford Law Citator
Contents
Expand All
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Preliminary Material
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Table of Cases
Australia
Austria
Canada
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
East Africa
European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Justice
France
Germany
Greece
Human Rights Committee cases
Hungary
ICSID Tribunals
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
International Arbitral Awards
International Court of Justice
International Criminal Court
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)
Iran-US Claims Tribunal
Ireland
Italy
Mercosur
New Zealand
Permanent Court of International Justice
Poland
South Africa
Spain
Special Tribunal for Lebanon
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
World Trade Organisation Panel and Appellate Body Cases
Table of Instruments
Table of National Legislation
Algeria
Antigua and Barbuda
Bangladesh
Barbados
China
Croatia
Denmark
Dominica
Estonia
European
France
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
India
Iran
Latvia
Lithuania
Maldives
Malta
Mauritius
Myanmar
Pakistan
Poland
Republic of Korea
Romania
Seychelles
Slovenia
Somalia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Sudan
Syria
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Yemen
Main Text
1 Introduction
1 Interpretation and the Problem of Inter-temporal Law
2 The Impulse for the Book from the Work of the ILC
1
2
3
4
3 Theoretical Approaches
4 The Three Reports for the Study Group on Treaties over Time
5 Synthesis and Future Work
Part 1 Doctrinal Aspects
2 Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice within and outside the Vienna Convention
1 The Painting and its Frame
2 A Close-up View: The Vienna Convention
3 Searching for the Right Perspective: Subsequent Practice in the Vienna Convention
4 Initial Attempts to Find the Focal Point
5 Looking for the Right Position: Casting Some Glances at Other Canvases Nearby
6 Still Looking for the Right Position: Casting Some Glances at Other Details on the Canvas (Art 31(1), (4), and Dynamic Interpretation)
7 Stepping Back and Enlarging the View
8 A Blurred Figure: Subsequent MoUs
9 How Not to be Unreasonable
3 A Consensualist Interpretation of Article 31(3) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
4 Keeping Subsequent Agreements and Practice in Their Right Limits
1 Introduction
2 Possible Effects of Subsequent Practice: Interpretation, Modification, Termination, and Suspension of a Treaty
3 Interpretation, Modification, or Suspension of Treaties by Subsequent Agreements in Recent ICJ Case Law
(a) The 1975 Argentina-Uruguay Treaty and the 2004 and 2005 informal arrangements
(b) The interpretation of the Costa Rica/Nicaragua 1858 Treaty of Limits in light of subsequent agreements and practice
4 The Conduct of Which Actors Can Amount to Subsequent Practice?
5 Subsequent Practice and Boundary and Territorial Treaties
6 Conclusions
5 Miscellaneous Thoughts on Subsequent Agreements and Practice
Part 2 Practical Significance
6 Subsequent Practice, Practices, and ‘Family-Resemblance’: Towards Embedding Subsequent Practice in its Operative Milieu
1 Introduction: Subsequent Practice and Practices
2 The ‘Practice Family’: Mapping the Species of Practice under Current Conventional Regimes
(a) The practice of the states parties to a treaty
(b) Practice stemming from treaties’ institutional machinery
(c) External or extraneous practices recognized by current treaties
(d) Incorporation of instruments with a normative value as practice outside of the conventional regime
3 Practices in Motion: Walking the Path of Practice under Current Conventional Regimes
4 Concluding Remarks: The Challenges of Subsequent Practice in light of the New Trends Pervading the International Legal Order
7 The Evolution of Treaty Obligations in International Law
Preliminary Material
1 The Implications of the Modern Multilateral System
2 The New Forces of Dynamism
3 Contemporary Sources of Evolutionary Interpretation
4 The Limits of State Practice
5 New Sources of Practice in Custom and Principle
8 The Relevance of Subsequent Agreement and Subsequent Practice for the Interpretation of Treaties
1 Some Cautionary Observations When Assessing ‘Relevance’
2 The Three Key Areas Where Relevance Should Be Assessed
(a) Using subsequent conduct to interpret a treaty
(b) Using subsequent conduct to modify a treaty
(c) Using subsequent conduct to establish the existence or non-existence of a treaty
3 Four Potential Factors Influencing the Relevance of Subsequent Conduct
(a) The specificity of the treaty provision at issue
(b) The subject matter of the treaty provision at issue
(c) Number of parties to the underlying treaty regime
(d) The structure or legal context of the treaty
9 Subsequent Agreements and Practice: The Battle over Interpretive Power
1 Introduction: The Battle over Interpretive Power
2 Distinguishing between Inter-State and Transnational Courts and Tribunals
(a) Inter-state courts and tribunals
(b) Transnational courts and tribunals
3 Conclusion: A Differentiated Approach to the VCLT?
Part 3 Interpretation and Change
10 Subsequent Agreements and Practice: Between Interpretation, Informal Modification, and Formal Amendment
1 Introduction
2 The Need for Interpretation
(a) Linguistic indeterminacy
(b) Constructive ambiguity
(c) Social and political changes
3 What are Subsequent Agreements and Practice?
(a) The definition of and distinction between subsequent agreements and practice according to art 31(3)(a) and (b) VCLT
(i) Subsequent agreements
(ii) Subsequent practice
(b) The authors of practice and agreement
(c) The relation between subsequent agreements and practice and the respective treaty—‘subsequent’
4 The Distinction between Interpretation and Modification
5 The Limits to Subsequent Agreements and Practice
(a) Time
(b) Interpretation
(c) Object and purpose
(d) Ius cogens
(e) Procedure of the treaty
6 The Legal Effects of Subsequent Agreements and Practice
7 Conclusions
11 Limits of Change by Way of Subsequent Agreements and Practice
12 Law, Time, and Change: The Self-Regulatory Function of Subsequent Practice
1 Introduction
2 Queries
3 Genealogy
4 Text and Meaning
5 Practice
6 Epistemic Communities
7 Strategies
8 Courts and Monitoring Bodies
9 Subsequent Practice as a Socio-Legal, Self-Regulatory Device
Part 4 Domestic Constitutional Aspects
13 Domestic Constitutional Concerns with Respect to the Use of Subsequent Agreements and Practice at the International Level
1 Introduction
2 Court Practice on Subsequent Practice
(a) Interpretation, modification, and amendment
(b) The special case of constituent treaties of international organizations
3 Concerns of Legitimacy
4 Effects of Domestic Constitutional Concerns on Treaty Interpretation
14 Treaty Interpretation, Subsequent Agreements and Practice, and Domestic Constitutions
1 Subsequent Agreement and Practice in Treaty Interpretation: Constitutionally Objectionable?
(a) National courts mediating interpretive changes over time
(b) National courts implementing decisions made by other bodies
(c) The European Union and the European Court of Human Rights
2 The Relevance of Domestic Constitutional Concerns to Treaty Interpretation on the International Level
15 Subsequent Practice, Domestic Separation of Powers, and Concerns of Legitimacy
1 Meanings and Bias in the Topic
2 Focus on the Courts’ Practice
3 Concerns of Legitimacy
Part 5 Reports for the ILC Study Group on Treaties over Time
Report 1 Jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice and Arbitral Tribunals of Ad Hoc Jurisdiction Relating to Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice
I Introduction
1 General aspects of the topic
2 The focus and purpose of the present report
a) Focus on subsequent agreement and subsequent practice
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
b) Focus on the jurisprudence of the ICJ and arbitral tribunals of ad hoc jurisdiction
c) Purpose of the present report
3 The VCLT and the previous work of the Commission
a) VCLT
b) Previous work of the Commission
II Use of Terms
1 Subsequent agreement and subsequent practice distinguished
2 Subsequent practice and subsequent agreements as ‘subsequent conduct’
3 Subsequent conduct and other relevant subsequent developments
III Subsequent Conduct as a Means of Interpretation
1 The jurisprudence of the PCIJ
2 General approach to interpretation
3 Ordinary meaning of the terms of the treaty
a) Subsequent conduct as a means to interpret terms more narrowly or more broadly
b) Explicit mentioning of certain aspects
c) The terms of the treaty as a whole
d) Clarity and ambiguity of certain terms of the treaty
e) Conclusion: ordinary meaning and subsequent conduct
4 The wider context (Article 31 (2) VCLT)
5 Object and Purpose
a) Subsequent conduct as a means to determine object and purpose
b) Character of the instrument
c) Reconciling different objects and purposes
d) Regime of implementation
6 Inter-temporal law: Contemporaneous and evolutive interpretation
a) The case of Costa Rica v. Nicaragua (2009)
b) Previous work of the Commission
c) A trend towards more evolutionary interpretation
d) Relationship between evolutionary interpretation and subsequent conduct
IV Elements of Subsequent Conduct
1 Beginning and end of possible subsequent conduct
a) Beginning of the relevant period
b) End of the relevant period
2 Forms of subsequent conduct
3 The necessary common understanding or agreement of the parties
a) Conduct implying a recognition or assertion of a point of law
b) Forms of expressing common understanding or agreement
aa) Written form
bb) Joint conduct
cc) Parallel or coordinated conduct
dd) Silence or omission
aaa) Silence with respect to conduct which remains internal
bbb) Silence with respect to conduct calling for no reaction
ccc) Silence as constituting agreement
ddd) Treaties establishing international organizations as a special case?
eee) Non-consent based rules for which silence plays a role: Preclusion and prescription
b) Sufficiently determinate position
c) Attribution of (subsequent) conduct to a state
d) Unilateral subsequent conduct not reflecting an agreement
V Subsequent Conduct as a Means of Treaty Modification
1 Previous work of the Commission and VCLT
2 Leading cases
3 Categories of treaties
a) Constituent treaties of international organizations
b) Boundary treaties
c) Other treaties
4 ‘Desuetude’ (or ‘obsolescence’)
5 Treaty interpretation, modification, and evolutionary interpretation
6 Relationship between the original treaty and its modification by subsequent conduct
VI Subsequent Conduct and Treaty Procedures for Interpretation, Adaptation, or Modification
Report 2 Jurisprudence Under Special Regimes Relating to Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice
Preliminary Material
I Introduction
1 Scope
2 Treaty regimes not covered
3 Methodological approach
4 Structure of the report
II International Economic Regimes
1 World Trade Organisation
1.1 Introduction
1.2 General approach to interpretation
1.3 Subsequent agreement and practice
1.3.1 Definition
1.3.2 The required degree of participation
1.3.2.1 Active participation
1.3.2.2 Contrary practice of individual states
1.3.2.3 The relevance of silence
1.3.2.4 Burden of proof
1.3.2.5 A strict test
1.3.3 Subsequent practice in a broader sense
1.3.4 Sufficiently determinate position
1.4 Modification of treaty obligations
1.5 Authentic interpretation (Article IX:2 WTO Agreement)
1.6 Conclusion
2 Iran-US Claims Tribunal
2.1 Introduction
2.2 General approach to interpretation
2.3 Subsequent practice
2.4 Specific aspects
2.4.1 Possible beginning of subsequent practice
2.4.2 Attribution
2.4.3 Sufficiently determinate position
2.4.4 Conduct implying a recognition or an assertion of a point of law
2.4.5 Agreement, silence and estoppel
2.4.6 Modification of treaty obligations
2.5 Conclusion
3 ICSID Tribunals
3.1 Introduction
3.2 General approach to interpretation
3.3 Subsequent agreements and practice
3.4 Limited and restrictive use of subsequent agreement and practice
3.4.1 The concept and interpretative weight of relevant practice
3.4.2 Sufficiently determinate practice
3.4.3 Burden of proof
3.5 Conclusion
4 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
4.1 Introduction
4.2 General approach to interpretation
4.3 Distinction between subsequent agreement and subsequent practice
4.4 Restrictive approach to subsequent practice as a means of interpretation
4.5 The FTC Note 2001: A subsequent agreement, or more?
4.6 Conclusion
III Human Rights Regimes
1 European Court of Human Rights
1.1 Introduction
1.2 General approach to interpretation
1.3 Manifestations of subsequent agreements and practice
1.3.1 Subsequent agreements
1.3.2 Subsequent state practice
1.3.3 Other subsequent developments
1.3.3.1 Subsequent social developments
1.3.3.2 Subsequent development of other rules of international law
1.4 The different means of interpretation
1.4.1 Ordinary meaning
1.4.2 Context
1.4.3 Object and purpose
1.4.4 Subsequent developments
1.4.4.1 Subsequent state practice
1.4.4.1.1 Consensus
1.4.4.1.2 No consensus
1.4.4.1.3 Near consensus
1.4.4.2 Subsequent international legal practice
1.4.4.3 Subsequent social practice
1.4.4.4 Changing of the Court’s own jurisprudence
1.5 Treaty modification by subsequent practice
1.6 Evolutionary interpretation, informal modification, and formal amendments
1.7 Comparative observations on the use of subsequent practice by the ECtHR
1.7.1 Broadened concept of relevant subsequent practice
1.7.2 Softened requirement of common agreement
1.7.3 Softened requirement of attribution of conduct to a state
1.7.4 Softened requirement of a sufficiently determinate position
1.7.5 Recognition of the possibility of modification by subsequent practice
1.8 Conclusion
2 Inter-American Court of Human Rights
2.1 Introduction
2.2 General approach to interpretation
2.3 The different means of interpretation
2.3.1 Ordinary meaning
2.3.2 Context
2.3.3 Object and purpose
2.3.4 Subsequent developments
2.3.4.1 State practice
2.3.4.2 Other international developments
2.4 Conclusion
3 Human Rights Committee under the ICCPR
3.1 Introduction
3.2 General approach to interpretation
3.3 The different means of interpretation
3.3.1 Ordinary meaning
3.3.2 Context
3.3.3 Object and purpose
3.3.4 Subsequent practice and trends
3.3.4.1 A dynamic jurisprudence in extradition cases
3.3.4.2 A static jurisprudence in death row cases
3.3.4.3 State practice as pointing into different directions
3.4 Conclusion
IV Other Regimes
1 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
1.1 Introduction
1.2 General approach to interpretation
1.3 Subsequent agreements and subsequent practice
1.3.1 Subsequent agreements
1.3.2 Subsequent practice
1.4 Conclusion
2 International Criminal Court and Tribunals
2.1 Introduction
2.2 General approach to interpretation
2.3 Subsequent agreements
2.4 The consideration of subsequent practice in specific areas
2.4.1 Substantive criminal law
2.4.2 Human rights treaties and their practice
2.4.3 Institutional, including procedural issues
2.5 Conclusion
3 Court of Justice of the European Union
3.1 Introduction
3.2 General approach to interpretation
3.3 The different means of interpretation
3.3.1 Ordinary meaning
3.3.2 Context
3.3.3 Object and purpose
3.3.4 Subsequent developments
3.3.4.1 Interpretation of primary law
3.3.4.2 Agreements concluded by the Union with third states
3.4 Conclusion
V General Conclusions
1 Article 31 VCLT as the general rule of interpretation
2 The special nature of human rights treaties
3 Basic approaches to the different means of interpretation
4 Recognition of subsequent practice as means of interpretation
5 Point in time from which a practice is ‘subsequent’
6 Identification of a more or less important role of subsequent practice
7 Evolutionary interpretation
8 Rare invocation of subsequent agreements
9 Definition of subsequent practice for the purpose of interpretation
10 Social practice as subsequent state practice
11 Subsequent practice as emanating from potentially all state organs
12 Attribution of practice to a state depends on a number of factors
13 Recognition or assertion of a legal position
14 Subsequent practice not necessarily determinate or specific
15 The significance of silence and a limited degree of participation
16 Different effects of opposing practice
17 Treaty modification by way of subsequent practice
18 Subsequent practice and formal amendment or interpretation procedures
19 Criteria affecting the relevance of subsequent practice
20 Regimes may evolve in how they take subsequent practice into account
Report 3 Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice of States Outside of Judicial or Quasi-judicial Proceedings
Preliminary Material
Introduction
1 Definition of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice
1 Subsequent agreements
2 Subsequent practice
2 Scope of the report
1 Jurisprudence of international courts and quasi-judicial bodies
2 International organizations
3 Jurisprudence of national courts
4 Formal treaty amendments
5 Self-standing later treaties
6 Secondary level treaty obligations
7 Effects on other treaties
Scope of the Third Report
Part I: Forms, Evidence, and Interpretation
1 Forms of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice of the parties
1 Forms of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice of the parties
2 Evidence of subsequent agreements and subsequent state practice
2.1 Evidence provided by states
2.2 Reports by international organizations
2.3 Non-official sources, in particular reports by NGOs
2.3.1 Non-governmental organizations
2.3.2 The special role of the ICRC
2.3.3 Other forms of evidence
2 Evidence of subsequent agreements and practice
3 Interpretation of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice
3.1 Law of the sea
3.2 International humanitarian law
3.3 Refugee law
3.4 Diplomatic and consular law
3.5 Divergent practice
3 Interpretation of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice
(1)
(2)
(3)
Part II: General Aspects
4 Reference in a treaty to subsequent agreements or practice
4.1 Obligation or power to specify the scope or content of the treaty
4.1.1 Framework treaties on cooperation
a) Framework treaties on cooperation
b) Framework treaties on cooperation
c) Framework treaties on cooperation
4.1.2 Treaties on bilateral technical and scientific cooperation
4.2 Indication of room for the exercise of discretion
4.2.1 Consular law
4.2.2 Multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs)
4.3 Distinction between power or obligation to specify treaty obligations and the indication of room for the implementation of treaty obligations
4 Reference in a treaty to subsequent agreements or subsequent practice
5 Specification
5 Specification
6 Scope of discretion
6 Scope of discretion
7 Agreement
7 Agreement
8 Subsequent practice as indicating agreement on a temporary non-application or on a temporary extension beyond its scope
8 Subsequent practice as indicating agreement on a temporary non-application or on a temporary extension of the scope of a treaty
9 Subsequent agreements or subsequent practice as reflecting a practical arrangement
9 Subsequent agreements or subsequent practice as reflecting a practical arrangement (modus vivendi) that is subject to challenge
10 Bilateral or regional practice under treaties with a broader membership
10 Bilateral or regional practice under treaties with a broader membership
11 Technical and scientific developments
11.1 Disagreement over conclusions to draw from technical developments
11.2 Reference in the treaty to technical developments
11 Technical and scientific developments
12 Relation between subsequent practice by parties under a treaty and the continuing formation of parallel rules of customary international law
12 Relation between subsequent practice by parties under a treaty and the continuing parallel formation of rules of customary international law
13 Modification
13.1 Modification by subsequent agreement
13.2 Subsequent agreement in parallel with formal amendment procedure
13 Modification
14 Agreement to terminate
14.1 Continuous non-application—The institution of ‘protecting power’ in IHL
14.2 The requirement of an ‘agreement’ to terminate a treaty and its form
14 Agreement to terminate
Part III: Specific Aspects
15 Specific cooperative contexts
15.1 The system of the OECD Model Tax Convention
15.2 Assessment
15 Specific cooperative contexts
16 Conferences of the States Parties
16.1 Different kinds of Conferences of States Parties
16.1.1 COPs as organs of an international organization
16.1.2 COPs as periodic gatherings of states
16.2 Legal nature and effect of acts by states parties with the framework of a COP
16.2.1 ‘Internal’ and ‘external’ acts of COPs
16.2.2 Review powers and formal amendment procedures
16.2.3 Tacit amendment procedures
16.3 COPs as creating subsequent agreements and practice
16.3.1 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)
16.3.2 Biological Weapons Convention
16.3.4 Montreal Protocol
16.3.5 Conclusion
16.4 Procedural requirements
16.4.1 Binding decisions as subsequent agreements
16.4.2 Need for consensus?
16.4.3 The concept of consensus
16.4.4 Borderline cases of consensus
16.4.5 Conclusion
16.5 Modification
16 Conferences of State Parties
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
a)
b)
c)
(5)
17 Treaty monitoring bodies
17.1 Definition of ‘treaty monitoring bodies’
17.2 Treaty monitoring bodies and their procedures
17.3 Relevance of pronouncements for subsequent practice as means of interpretation
17.3.1 Prior agreements and practice
17.3.2 Simultaneous (agreements and) practice
17.3.3 Later agreements and practice
17.4 Conclusion
17 Treaty monitoring bodies
Conclusions
1 Forms of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice of the parties
2 Evidence of subsequent agreements and practice
3 Interpretation of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice
(1)
(2)
(3)
4 Reference in a treaty to subsequent agreements or subsequent practice
5 Specification
6 Scope of discretion
7 Agreement
8 Subsequent practice as indicating agreement on a temporary non-application or on a temporary extension of the scope of a treaty
9 Subsequent agreements or subsequent practice as reflecting a practical arrangement (modus vivendi) that is subject to challenge
10 Bilateral or regional practice under treaties with a broader membership
11 Technical and scientific developments
12 Relation between subsequent practice by parties under a treaty and the continuing parallel formation of rules of customary international law
13 Modification
14 Agreement to terminate
15 Specific cooperative contexts
16 Conferences of State Parties
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
a)
b)
c)
(5)
17 Treaty monitoring bodies
Further Material
Index
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Table of National Legislation
Edited By: Georg Nolte
From:
Treaties and Subsequent Practice
Edited By: Georg Nolte
Content type:
Book content
Product:
Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law [OSAIL]
Published in print:
13 June 2013
ISBN:
9780199679195
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