W2: Treaties, General Principles, and Soft Law

Vocabulary flashcards covering treaty law, VCLT provisions, landmark international cases, jus cogens, erga omnes obligations, general principles, subsidiary sources, and soft law.

ICJ Statute Article 38(1)

The treaty provision listing the sources of international law applied by the Court: international conventions, international custom, general principles of law, judicial decisions, and legal teachings.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969)

An international convention governing treaty law between States that was adopted in 1969 and entered into force on 27 January 1980.

VCLT Article 4

The rule establishing non-retroactivity, specifying that the VCLT applies only to treaties entering into force after the VCLT entered into force for the relevant States.

Customary International Law of Treaty Interpretation

The rules set out in VCLT Articles 31-32, which reflect customary international law binding on all States as recognized in Arbitral Award of 31 July 1989 (Guinea-Bissau v Senegal).

Treaty (VCLT Article 2(1)(a))

An international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether in a single or multiple related instruments and whatever its designation.

Legal Status of Eastern Greenland (1933)

A PCIJ case establishing that an oral undertaking given by Norway's Foreign Minister to Denmark's Foreign Minister constituted a binding international agreement.

Qatar v Bahrain (1994)

An ICJ case establishing that an exchange of letters between Heads of State or minutes of a meeting between Foreign Ministers can form a binding treaty obligation.

Aegean Sea Continental Shelf (1978)

An ICJ case concluding that a joint communiqué issued after a meeting of Prime Ministers was not a binding agreement because it was not intended to create an immediate commitment.

Accession

A formal method of expressing consent to be bound by a treaty used by States that did not sign the treaty, such as after it has entered into force.

VCLT Article 18

The rule obliging States to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty after signing it, until they make clear an intention not to become a party.

Pacta Sunt Servanda (VCLT Article 26)

The fundamental principle providing that every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith.

VCLT Article 27

The rule specifying that a party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.

VCLT Article 28

The rule establishing that treaty obligations are prospective only (non-retroactive) unless a different intention appears from the treaty or is otherwise established.

VCLT Article 29

The rule specifying that a treaty is binding upon each party in respect of its entire territory, unless a different intention appears from the treaty or is otherwise established.

VCLT Article 34

The general rule providing that a treaty does not create either obligations or rights for a third State without its consent.

Golder v United Kingdom (1975)

An ECHR decision establishing that the process of treaty interpretation under VCLT Article 31 is a unity and a single combined operation.

VCLT Article 31(1)

The general rule stating that a treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning of its terms in their context and in the light of its object and purpose.

VCLT Article 31(3)(a)

The requirement that any subsequent agreement between the parties regarding the interpretation of the treaty or application of its provisions shall be taken into account together with context.

VCLT Article 31(3)(b)

The requirement that any subsequent practice in the application of the treaty which establishes the agreement of the parties regarding its interpretation shall be taken into account together with context.

VCLT Article 31(3)(c)

The requirement that any relevant rules of international law applicable in the relations between the parties shall be taken into account together with context.

VCLT Article 32

The rule permitting recourse to supplementary means of interpretation, including preparatory work and circumstances of conclusion, to confirm meaning or resolve ambiguity, obscurity, or absurd results.

Travaux Préparatoires

The preparatory work of a treaty, recognized under VCLT Article 32 as a relevant supplementary mean of interpretation.

Competence of the General Assembly for Admission (1950)

An ICJ Advisory Opinion establishing that under UN Charter Article 4(2), the General Assembly can only decide to admit a State upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Namibia Advisory Opinion (1971)

An ICJ Advisory Opinion ruling that consistent practice established voluntary abstention by a permanent Security Council member as not barring resolution adoption under UN Charter Article 27(3).

Somalia v Kenya (2017)

An ICJ decision applying VCLT Article 31(3)(c) to interpret an MOU in light of UNCLOS Article 83, which contains relevant rules of international law applicable between both States.

Kasikili/Sedudu Island Case (1999)

An ICJ decision where separate and joint ground surveys were used under VCLT Article 32 as supplementary means of interpretation supporting the Court's conclusions.

Reservation (VCLT Article 2(1)(d))

A unilateral statement made by a State when expressing consent to be bound by a treaty, purporting to exclude or modify the legal effect of certain provisions in their application to that State.

VCLT Article 19

The rule providing that reservations are permissible unless prohibited by the treaty, outside specified permitted reservations, or incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaty.

Reservations to the Genocide Convention (1951)

An ICJ Advisory Opinion ruling that the compatibility of a reservation with the object and purpose of the treaty is the criterion for making and objecting to reservations.

General Comment No 24 (Human Rights Committee)

A statement establishing that an unacceptable reservation to a human rights treaty is generally severable, leaving the Covenant operative for the reserving party without benefit of the reservation.

Material Breach (VCLT Article 60)

A ground for terminating or suspending a treaty, defined as a repudiation not sanctioned by the VCLT or a violation of a provision essential to accomplishing its object and purpose.

Supervening Impossibility of Performance (VCLT Article 61)

A ground for terminating or withdrawing from a treaty resulting from the permanent disappearance or destruction of an object indispensable for the execution of the treaty.

Fundamental Change of Circumstances (VCLT Article 62)

The doctrine of rebus sic stantibus allowing treaty termination in exceptional cases where an unforeseen change in essential circumstances radically transforms remaining obligations.

Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (1997)

An ICJ case holding that political changes, diminishing economic viability, and new environmental norms did not radically transform obligations under VCLT Article 62.

Jus Cogens (VCLT Article 53)

A peremptory norm of general international law accepted and recognized by the international community as a whole from which no derogation is permitted.

Peremptory Norms Examples

Core jus cogens norms recognized by the ILC, including the prohibitions of aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity, torture, slavery, racial discrimination, and self-determination.

Obligations Erga Omnes

Obligations owed by a State towards the international community as a whole, in which all States have a legal interest, as established in Barcelona Traction.

General Principles of Law

A primary source of international law under ICJ Statute Article 38(1)(c), representing basic jurisprudence maxims common to national legal systems that fill gaps (lacunae).

ICJ Statute Article 59

The provision establishing that decisions of the ICJ have no binding force except between the parties and in respect of that particular case, excluding formal stare decisis.

Soft Law

Non-binding guidelines of conduct operating in a grey zone between law and politics that assist in interpreting legal norms and can evolve into hard law.