Evolutionary Interpretation And International Law

This unique book brings together leading experts from diverse areas of public international law to offer a comprehensive overview of the approaches to evolutionary interpretation in different international legal regimes. It begins by asking what interpretation is, offering the views of expert authors on the question, its components and definitions. It then comments on situations that have called for evolutionary interpretation in different international legal regimes, including general international law, environmental law, human rights law, EU law, investment law, international trade law, and how domestic courts have, on occasions, interpreted treaties and other international legal instruments in an evolutionary manner. This timely, authoritative compendium offers an in-depth understanding of the processes at work in evolutionary interpretation as well as a prime selection of the current trends and future challenges.

This unique book brings together leading experts from diverse areas of public international law to offer a comprehensive overview of the approaches to evolutionary interpretation in different international legal regimes. It begins by asking what interpretation is, offering the views of expert authors on the question, its components and definitions. It then comments on situations that have called for evolutionary interpretation in different international legal regimes, including general international law, environmental law, human rights law, EU law, investment law, international trade law, and how domestic courts have, on occasions, interpreted treaties and other international legal instruments in an evolutionary manner. This timely, authoritative compendium offers an in-depth understanding of the processes at work in evolutionary interpretation as well as a prime selection of the current trends and future challenges.

The question of whether the meaning of terms used in treaties can evolve over time is highly contentious within international law. This book examines how treaties should be interpreted, and how best to marry the intention of the parties to the treaty with the changing socio-political context over time.

The question of whether the meaning of terms used in treaties can evolve over time is highly contentious within international law. This book examines how treaties should be interpreted, and how best to marry the intention of the parties to the treaty with the changing socio-political context over time.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the law of treaties based on the interplay between the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and customary international law. Written by a team of renowned international lawyers, it offers new insight into the basic concepts and methodology of the law of treaties and its problems.

International lawyers have long recognised the importance of interpretation to their academic discipline and professional practice. As new insights on interpretation abound in other fields, international law and international lawyers have largely remained wedded to a rule-based approach, focusing almost exclusively on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Such an approach neglects interpretation as a distinct and broader field of theoretical inquiry. Interpretation in International Law brings international legal scholars together to engage in sustained reflection on the theme of interpretation. The book is creatively structured around the metaphor of the game, which captures and illuminates the constituent elements of an act of interpretation. The object of the game of interpretation is to persuade the audience that one's interpretation of the law is correct. The rules of play are known and complied with by the players, even though much is left to their skills and strategies. There is also a meta-discourse about the game of interpretation - 'playing the game of game-playing' - which involves consideration of the nature of the game, its underlying stakes, and who gets to decide by what rules one should play. Through a series of diverse contributions, Interpretation in International Law reveals interpretation as an inescapable feature of all areas of international law. It will be of interest and utility to all international lawyers whose work touches upon theoretical or practical aspects of interpretation.

Essay from the year 2019 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: 1,0, University of Vienna (Institut für Europa- und Völkerrecht), language: English, abstract: This essay is concerned with the ramifications of the interpretation of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, from now on referred to as VCLT, constitutes the "bible" of international practitioners. Like the United Nations Charter, the widespread clarity and intelligence of its drafting have enabled States to comply with the rules and adapt their practice without distorting or departing from the VCLT. The rules provide an important framework which is flexible enough for States to accommodate alternatives, variations and even developments in their state practice. The provisions of the VCLT leave the states room for individual concretisation. Some commentators say the VCLT has had its day and is incapable of dealing with the challenges of the 21st century. However, the VCLT has proved itself to be a most adaptable tool, as it was able to deal with challenges of the past decades. In order to do so, the provisions of the VCLT were clarified, modified, developed, or amended. This paper aims at discussing the development of several selected provisions of the VCLT as well as analysing the new types of interpretation, such as the evolutionary interpretation. The difference between the original provisions and the present state of the law will be outlined in this paper.

The rules of treaty interpretation codified in the 'Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties' now apply to virtually all treaties, in an international context as well as within national legal systems, where treaties have an impact on a large and growing range of matters. The rules of treaty interpretation differ somewhat from typical rules for interpreting legal instruments and legislation within national legal systems. Lawyers, administrators, diplomats, and officials at international organisations are increasingly likely to encounter issues of treaty interpretation which require not only knowledge of the relevant rules of interpretation, but also how these rules have been, and are to be, applied in practice. Since the codified rules of treaty interpretation came into decree, there is a considerable body of case-law on their application. This case-law, combined with the history and analysis of the rules of treaty interpretation, provides a basis for understanding this most important task in the application of treaties internationally and within national systems of law. Any lawyer who ever has to consider international matters, and increasingly any lawyer whose work involves domestic legislation with any international connection, is at risk nowadays of encountering a treaty provision which requires interpretation, whether the treaty provision is explicitly in issue or is the source of the relevant domestic legislation. This fully updated new edition features case law from a broader range of jurisdictions, and an account of the work of the International Law Commission in its relation to interpretative declarations. This book provides a guide to interpreting treaties properly in accordance with the modern rules.