Treaty Interpretation Under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

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.

Part I The Setting.- 1 Revisiting the Essence of Treaty Interpretation.- 2 Treaty Interpretation as Opposed to Statutory, Constitutional and Contractual Interpretations.- 3 Meaning of Codification and VCLT as the First Round of Codification of Customary Rules of Treaty Interpretation.- 4 Desirability and Some Principles for a New Round of Codification.- Part II Existing Issues to be Subject to Codified Rules.- 5 Boundary of Treaty Interpretation and Possible Codification.- 6 Difference and Relations Between Interpretation and Application of Treaties and the Possible Codification.- 7 Relations Between Treaty Interpretation and Finding/Assessment of Facts and the Possible Codification.- 8 International Adjudicating and Non-Adjudicating Bodies as Treaty Interpreters and the Possible Codification.- 9 Interpreting Treaties For Private Matters And The Possible Codification.- 10 Methods of Searching for the Ordinary Meaning and the Possible Codification.- 11 Ways of Taking Into Consideration the Object-and-Purpose and the Possible Codification.- 12 Means of Taking into Consideration the Context and the Possible Codification.- 13 Special Meaning, Supplementary Means and Different Languages as Well as the Possible Codification.- 14 Some Other Supplementary Interpretation Principles and the Possible Codification.- 15 Time Factor, Technological Development, Evolutive Interpretation and the Possible Codification.- 16 The Formula Approach for Indefinite Legal Concepts and the Possible Codification.- 17 Sequence, Hierarchy, Good Faith, Holistic Interpretation and the Possible Codification.- Part III  New Issues and Perspectives.- 18 Introducing Fundamental Values into Treaty Interpretation and the Possible Codification.- 19 Coordination Between Different Treaties Through Treaty Interpretation and the Possible Codification.-20 Conclusion – Features and Perspectives of the New Codified Rules of Treaty Interpretation.- Index.