Overview
- Explains the insufficiencies of the current VCLT rules of treaty interpretation in addressing some traditional treaty interpretation issues and the challenges encountered by the current rules
- Provides a comprehensive review of the codification of the VCLT concerning customary rules of treaty interpretation and explains the desirability of a second round of treaty interpretation
- Proposes certain treaty interpretation rules to be codified to address the fragmentation of treaties, the coordination between different treaties, and the need of introducing external values, including human rights, into a treaty through treaty interpretation to make treaty interpretation more consistent and more in line with the shared value of international community
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (20 chapters)
-
The Setting
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Existing Issues to Be Subject to Codified Rules
Keywords
- Treaty interpretation
- VCLT (Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties)
- Ordinary meaning
- Textual interpretation
- Contextual interpretation
- Object-and-purpose
- Constitutional interpretation
- Statutory interpretation
- Contractual interpretation
- Codification
- Contemporaneous interpretation
- Evolutive interpretation
- Teleological interpretation
- Fragmentation of international treaties
- Human rights
About this book
This book is devoted to an idea of a second round of codification of certain new rules for treaty interpretation. Currently, treaty interpretation is guided by Articles 31 through 33 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). The fundamental rule is that a treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose. These rules lay the foundation for treaty interpretation. They represent the first round of codification of the contents of some previous customary international law rules. The book argues that the current rules are overly simplified. After almost fifty years of codification of the VCLT, the codified text in it is practically insufficient in addressing some traditional treaty interpretation issues (such as the interpretation involving time factors or technology development) and in coping with some new development of international law (suchas the diversification and fragmentation of international treaties) and new challenges (such as the need of coordination between different treaties and the need of introducing external values, including human rights, into a treaty through treaty interpretation process). The book further argues that there is a need to have a second round of codification so as to incorporate new rules into the VCLT to be followed by treaty interpreters to make treaty interpretation more consistent and transparent, and more in line with the shared value of international community. The book proposes the contents of certain new rules to be considered as the new codified rules for treaty interpretation.
Authors and Affiliations
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Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Treaty Interpretation Under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Book Subtitle: A New Round of Codification
Authors: Chang-fa Lo
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6866-9
Publisher: Springer Singapore
eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-10-6865-2Published: 09 November 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-13-4963-8Published: 11 December 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-981-10-6866-9Published: 31 October 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 361
Topics: Human Rights, Dispute Resolution, Mediation, Arbitration, Social Justice, Equality and Human Rights, Human Rights and Crime