International Law

Treaties and Subsequent Practice

By Georg Nolte
Oxford University Press June 2013

Specifications

ISBN-13
9780199679195
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication
June 2013
Format
Hardback , 432 pages
Jurisdiction
International ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

  • Comprehensively analyses the key role subsequent practice plays in the dynamic interpretation of international treaties
  • Includes contributions by leading international lawyers addressing both practical cases and more theoretical assessments
  • Includes two previously unpublished reports from the International Law Commission's 'Treaties over Time' study group

Under the relevant rules of international law, treaties are interpreted in accordance with the ordinary meaning of the language they use, their object and purpose, and the intention of the drafters, but also in light of the subsequent practice of its parties. This subsequent practice can shed light on articles whose meaning is ambiguous and subsequent agreement can even alter the meaning of treaty provisions. At a time when many of the most important international treaties are more than fifty years old, subsequent practice plays an increasingly important role in their interpretation. 

Treaties and Subsequent Practice discusses the role and relevance of this subsequent practice in the process of dynamic treaty interpretation. The book provides a comprehensive treatment of this topic by eminent commentators, combining contributions which focus on practical cases with chapters examining the theoretical underpinnings of treaty interpretation. The concept of subsequent practice is situated in the more general context of treaty law and international law, looking at different cases and doctrinal questions to assess its policy dimensions. The book addresses the question of whether subsequent practice plays a more or less significant role in different areas of international law, and whether it can be employed as a partial substitute for formal treaty amendments. It also includes two previously unpublished reports issued by the International Law Commission's Study Group on this topic.

 

Readership: Scholars and students of international law and international relations; Practitioners, government and NGO legal advisors working with treaties

Table of Contents

1: Introduction
Part 1: Subsequent Practice Among the Different Means of Interpretation
2: Luigi Crema: Subsequent Agreements and Practice within the Vienna Convention
3: Marcelo G. Kohen: Keeping Subsequent Agreements and Practice in Their Right Limits
4: James Crawford: Subsequent Agreements and Practice from a Consensualist Perspective
5: Bruno Simma: Some Problems Arising in Connection with Subsequent Agreements and Practice
Part 2: The Significance of Subsequent Practice in Different Areas of International Law
6: Laurence Boisson de Chazournes: Subsequent Practice, Practices and 'Family Resemblance': Towards Embedding Subsequent Practice in its Operative Milieu
7: Sean D. Murphy: The Relevance of Subsequent Agreements and Practice for Treaty Law to Date and in the Future
8: Anthea Roberts: Subsequent Practice: The Battle over Interpretive Power
9: Campbell McLachlan: TBC
Part 3: Subsequent Practice Between Interpretation, Informal Modification, and Formal Amendment
10: Gerhard Hafner: Subsequent Agreements and Practice: Between Interpretation, Informal Modification, and Formal Amendment
11: José E. Alvarez: Subsequent Practice Between Interpretation, Informal Modification, and Formal Amendment: A Comment
12: Andrea Bianchi: Law, Time and Change: The Self-Regulatory Function of Subsequent Practice
Part 4: Subsequent Practice and the Domestic Level
13: Stefan Kadelbach: Domestic Constitutional Concerns with Respect to the Use of Subsequent Agreements and Practice at the International Level
14: Hélène Ruiz Fabri: Subsequent Agreements and Practice: Domestic Constitutions, Courts, and Legitimacy
15: Ingrid Wuerth: Treaty Interpretation, Subsequent Agreements and Practice, and Domestic Constitutions
Part 5: ILC Study Group on Treaties Over Time
Introductory Report of the Study Group on Treaties over Time
Second Report of the ILC Study Group on Treaties over Time

About the Author

Edited by Georg Nolte, Professor of International Law, Humboldt University, Berlin

Georg Nolte is Professor of International Law at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He is a member of the UN's International Law Commission and the chair of the Commission's Study Group on Treaties over Time. He has published widely in the field of general international law, and he is one of the co-editors of our Commentary on the UN Charter (3rd edition, 2012).

 

Contributors: 
José E. Alvarez (New York University)
Andrea Bianchi (Graduate Institute, Geneva)
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (University of Geneva)
James Crawford (University of Cambridge)
Luigi Crema (University degli Studi, Milan)
Hélène Ruiz Fabri (University of Paris I)
Gerhard Hafner (University of Vienna)
Stefan Kadelbach (University of Frankfurt)
Marcelo G. Kohen (University of Geneva)
Campbell McLachlan (University of Wellington)
Sean D. Murphy (George Washington University)
Anthea Roberts (London School of Economics)
Bruno Simma (International Court of Justice/University of Munich)
Ingrid Wuerth (Vanderbilt University)

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