Part I Antecedents and context of International Criminal Trials, 4 Interpretative Methodologies and the Use of Precedent in Cases Before International Criminal Courts
Christopher Staker
From: Principles of Evidence in International Criminal Justice
Edited By: Karim A. A. Khan, Caroline Buisman, Christopher Gosnell
- Subject(s):
- Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
In any legal system, lawyers and judges are routinely faced with issues of interpretation. The outcome of litigation may turn on the particular interpretation given to a provision or phrase—or even a word—in a legislative instrument. The process of applying established legal principles to novel situations, which involves an analysis of what the established jurisprudence has or has not decided, is also one of interpretation. A body of principles for addressing issues of interpretation is an essential part of any legal system. Indeed, for the law to be applied in a...
