Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 January 2008
'Every international convention must be deemed tacitly to refer to general principles of international law for all questions which it does not itself resolve in express terms and in a different way.'
1 Case concerning Oil Platforms (Iran v United States of America) 42 ILM 1334 2003), esp at para 41.Google Scholar
2 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 (‘VCLT’).Google Scholar
3 Sands, ‘Treaty, Custom and the Cross-fertilization of International Law’ 1 Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal (1998), 85 at 95.Google Scholar
4 See, eg, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights cited below at n 110.Google Scholar
5 The Commission decided to include a study on this topic in the programme of work to be undertaken by its Study Group on Fragmentation of International Law at its 54th Session (2002): Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth session, Supplement No 10 (A/55/10), chap IX.A.l, para 729. A preliminary study on the topic prepared by the author in collaboration with William Mansfield (TLC(LVT)/SG/FIL/CRD.3/Rev 1) was presented at the Fifty-sixth Session in July 2004: Report of the Study Group (A/CN.4/L 663/Rev 1).Google Scholar
6 See generally, Pauwelyn, , Conflict of Norms in Public International Law (CUP Cambridge 2003) (‘Pauwelyn’).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 See Koskenniemi ‘Study on the Function and Scope of the lex specialis rule and the question of self-contained regimes’ (TLC(LVI)/SG/FIL/CRD.l and Add 1) (‘Koskenniemi’), para 160.Google Scholar
8 McNair, , The Law of Treaties (OUP Oxford 1961) 466.Google Scholar
9 Above.Google Scholar
10 VCLT, Art 2(1)(a).Google Scholar
11 The author is indebted to Xue Hanquin, Ambassador of China to the Netherlands and member of the International Law Commission, for this illuminating analogy.Google Scholar
12 Yearbook of the International Law Commission (1964) vol II, 184, para 74 (‘Yearbook’).Google Scholar
13 Case Concerning the Gabčikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary v Slovakia) ICJ Rep 1997, 7 at 114.Google Scholar
14 Thirlway ‘The Law and Procedure of the International Court of Justice 1960–1989 Part Three’ (1991) 62 BYIL 1 at 58.Google Scholar
15 To borrow a term employed by Sands, above n 3.Google Scholar
16 Higgins, Problems and Process: International Law and How we use it (OUP Oxford 1994), 1, 8.Google Scholar
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Subject to the (contested) category of peremptory norms otjus cogens, which are granted priority over treaties pursuant to Arts 53 and 64 VCLT.Google Scholar
20 Art 38(l)(c) Statute of the International Court of Justice.Google Scholar
21 Lauterpacht, Private Law Sources and Analogies of International Law (Longmans London 1927).Google Scholar
22 Brierly, , The Law of Nations (5th ednOxfordOUP 1955), citation taken from 6th edn (unchanged on this point) edited by Waldock, (Clarendon Press Oxford 1963) at 58.Google Scholar
23 Ibid.
24 Shelton, ‘International Law and ‘Relative Normativity” in Evans, (ed) International Law (OUP Oxford 2003) 145 at 148–9.Google Scholar
25 Ku, ‘Global Governance and the Changing Face of International Law’ ACUNS Repts and Papers 2001 no 2.Google Scholar
26 Below, Part mB.Google Scholar
27 VCLT Art 30.Google Scholar
28 The writer is indebted to William Mansfield for this metaphor.Google Scholar
29 Brownlie, ‘The Rights of Peoples in Modern International Law’ in Crawford, (ed) The Rights of Peoples (Clarendon Press Oxford 1988) 1 at 15; see also his subsequent comments in [2001] ASIL Proceedings 13–15.Google Scholar
30 See, eg, the collection of papers of ‘The Proliferation of International Tribunals: Piecing together the Puzzle’,a symposium held at New York University inOctober 1998, published in (1999) 31 NYU J Int’l L & Pol 679–933.Google Scholar
31 Hafner, ‘Risks ensuing from Fragmentation of International Law’, Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth session, Supplement No 10 (A/55/10), annex 321. The most recent report of the Study Group is dated 28 07 2004 (A/CN.4/L.663/Rev 1).Google Scholar
32 Koskenniemi, above n 7.Google Scholar
33 VCLT Arts 30 and 4 1, as to which see respectively Melescanu (TLC(LVI)SG/FIL/CRD.2) and Daoudi (TLC (LVI)/SG/FIL/CRD.4).Google Scholar
34 VCLT Art 53 as to which see Golicki (TLC(LVI)/5G/FIL/(RD.5).Google Scholar
35 VCLT Art 4 1. See, eg, Art 311 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.Google Scholar
36 For a recent very interesting contribution to the literature on the problem of time in statutory interpretation see Bradley ‘The Ambulatory Approach at the Bottom of the Cliff: Can the Courts Correct Parliament's Failure to Update Legislation?’ (2003) 9 Canterbury L R 1.Google Scholar
37 Scobbie, , ‘Some Common Heresies about International Law’ in Evans, (ed) International Law (OUP Oxford 2003) 59 at 65.Google Scholar
38 Above n 7, para 29.Google Scholar
39 A connection already made by Grotius, , De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1646), Ch XVI ‘On Interpretation’, in the translation by Kelsey, (Clarendon Press Oxford 1925) vol II.Google Scholar
40 In contract law, this may be seen as an aspect of party autonomy or ‘will theory’, as to which see , AtiyahThe Rise and Fall of Freedom of Contract (Clarendon Press Oxford 1979).Google Scholar For a recent defence of the role of the intentions of the parties in contractual interpretation, see McLauchlan, DW ‘The New Law of Contract Interpretation’ (2000) 19 NZULR 147.Google Scholar
41 Koskenniemi above n 7, para 59.Google Scholar
42 Amin Rasheed Shipping Corporation v Kuwait Insurance Co [1984] AC 50, 67, per Lord Diplock.Google Scholar
43 A point famously made by Julius, Stone in ‘Fictional Elements in Treaty Interpretation—A Study in the International Judicial Process’ (1953) 1 Sydney LR 344.Google Scholar
44 Charney, ‘Is International Law threatened by International Tribunals?’ (1998) 271 Recueil des Cours 101.Google Scholar
45 A view particularly often expressed in the United States. See, eg, Harvard Research Draft Convention on the Law of Treaties (1935) 29 AJ1L Supp. 937;Google Scholarand McDougal, , Lasswell, and Miller, The Interpretation of Agreements and World Public Order (Yale UP, New Haven, 1967).Google Scholar
46 Vattel, Le Droit des Gens (1758), Ch XVH ‘The Interpretation of Treaties’, in the translation by Fenwick, (Carnegie Institution Washington 1916). vol III.Google Scholar
47 Above n 43, 364.Google Scholar
48 (1951) 28 BYIL 1; (1957) 33 BYIL 204.Google Scholar
49 See, eg, the debate between Lauterpacht (1949) 26 BYIL 48 and Stone, above n 43.Google Scholar
50 See Thirlway above n 14.Google Scholar
51 Above n 8.Google Scholar
52 See the additional references cited in McNair op cit.Google Scholar
53 Fitzmaurice, (1957) above n 48, 225–7; and see also his earlier article dealing with intertemporality (1953) 30 BYIL 5–8. Fitzmaurice relied on the classic statement of Judge Huber in Island of Palmas Arbitration (1928) 2 RIAA 829, 845. Huber was concerned in that case with the acquisition of title of territory, a context which much more strongly requires the application of a principle of contemporaneity.Google Scholar
54 The test provided under Art 32 for reference to supplementary means of interpretation.Google Scholar
55 See the cases discussed at Part HI C below, and, more generally, Cameron, and Gray, (2001) 50 ICLQ 248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
56 ‘Yearbook’ (1964) vol II.Google Scholar
57 Ibid 55 para 10.
58 Annuaire de I'Institut de Droit International (‘Annuaire’) (1956) 364–5. Inclusion of this reference in the resolution of the Institut had had a controversial history. It did not appear in Lauterpacht's original scheme in 1950 (Annuaire (1950–1) 433). A reference to the interpretative role of general principles of customary international law was subsequently added by him in 1952 (Annuaire (1952–1) 223). It faced considerable opposition on grounds of uncertainty, and inconsistency with the Institut's codification role (Annuaire (1952–11) 384–6, remarks of Guggenheim and Rolin Annuaire (1954–1) 228). When Fitzmaurice was appointed to replace Lauterpacht as rapporteur, there was no reference of this kind in his draft (Annuaire (1956) 337–8). It was only added in the course of the debate, following an intervention of Basedevant (Annuaire (1958) 344).Google Scholar
59 ‘Yearbook’ (1964) vol II 8–9.Google Scholar
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62 2 tan-USCTR (1983) 157.Google Scholar
63 Ibid 161.
64 See also, to like effect, Case no A/18 (1984) 5 Iran-USCTR 251, 260. The provision was alsorelied upon in a dissent in Grimm v Iran 2 Iran-USCTR 78, 82 on the question of whether a fail-ure by Iran to protect an individual could constitute a measure ‘affecting property rights’ of hiswife.Google Scholar
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17 Ibid 35.
68 18 Dec 1996, Reports 1996-VI; 108 ILR 443 at 462 para 44.Google Scholar
69 Ibid.
70 Award on the merits, 10 Apr 2001; award in respect of damages, 31 May 2002 (2002) 41ILM 1347.Google Scholar
71 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: the Mox Plant case (Ireland v UnitedKingdom)—Request for Provisional Measures Order (3 Dec 2001) <www.itlos.org>; PermanentCourt of Arbitration: Dispute Concerning Access to Information Under Article 9 of the OSPARConvention: Ireland v United Kingdom—Final Award (2 July 2003) (2003) 42 ILM 1118;Permanent Court of Arbitration: the Mox Plant case: (Ireland v United Kingdom)—Order No 3(24 June 2003) (2003) 42 ILM 1187.;+PermanentCourt+of+Arbitration:+Dispute+Concerning+Access+to+Information+Under+Article+9+of+the+OSPARConvention:+Ireland+v+United+Kingdom—Final+Award+(2+July+2003)+(2003)+42+ILM+1118;Permanent+Court+of+Arbitration:+the+Mox+Plant+case:+(Ireland+v+United+Kingdom)—Order+No+3(24+June+2003)+(2003)+42+ILM+1187.>Google Scholar
72 WTO United States: Import Prohibition of certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products—Report ofthe Appellate Body (12 Oct 1998) WT/DS58/AB/R; (1999) 38 ILM 118.Google Scholar
73 WTO EC measures concerning meat and meat products (hormones)—Report of the Appellate Body (16 Jan 1998) WT/DS-26/AB/R.Google Scholar
74 Al-Adsani v United Kingdom, Application no 35763/97, 123 ILR 24 (2001); Fogarty v United Kingdom Application no 37112/97, 123 ILR 54 (2001); and McElhinney v Ireland Application no 31253/96, 123 ILR 73 (2001).Google Scholar
75 Above nl.Google Scholar
76 Above n 70.Google Scholar
77 Award on the merits, para 118, 55–6.Google Scholar
78 The Free Trade Commission is, by NAFTA Art 2001(2), empowered to, inter alia, ‘resolvedisputes that may arise regarding [the Agreement's] interpretation or application’. Pursuant to Art 1131 (2), an interpretation by the Commission of a provision of the Agreement ‘shall be bindingon a Tribunal’. This Interpretation may be found at: <www.worldtradelaw.net/nafta/chapl_linterp.pdf/uri>>.>.>Google Scholar
79 79 Above n 70 para 46.Google Scholar
80 The Tribunal relied upon dicta of the ICJ in Case concerning Elettronica Sicula SpA, (1989) ICJ Rep 15 at 76.Google Scholar
81 Art 102 para 2.Google Scholar
82 See esp Mondev International Ltd v USA (2003) 42 ILM 85; and ADF Group Inc v USA (award dated 9 Jan 2003 in case no ARB(AF)/00/l).Google Scholar
83 Mondev Ibid 109 para 125.
84 For references, see above n 71.Google Scholar
85 In the course of that arbitration, the European Commission lodged a complaint in theEuropean Court of Justice (‘ECJ’) against Ireland, alleging that Ireland, in bringing the UNCLOSarbitration proceedings was in breach of its community obligations. Complaint no C-459/03 lodged on 30 Oct 2003.Google Scholar
86 Above n 71 paras 50–2.Google Scholar
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88 Above n 71, paras 93–105, 1137–8.Google Scholar
89 Ibid 1161–5.
90 The President of the Tribunal, Professor Michael Reisman, dissented on this issue: Ibid 1157–60.
91 Ibid 1144 para 143.
92 Art 32(5)(a), referred to in Dr Griffith's dissent 1161, para 2(1); and see: Churchill andScott ‘The Mox Plant Litigation: the First Half-Life’ (2004)53 ICLQ 643 at 670.Google Scholar
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95 WTO United States: Import Prohibition of certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products-Report ofthe Appellate Body (12 Oct 1998) WT/DS58/AB/R; (1999) 38 ILM 118.Google Scholar
96 Ibid, para 130 citing Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of SouthAfrica in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 {AdvisoryOpinion) ICJ Rep (1971) 31.
97 The Tribunal noted that the Complainant States had ratified UNCLOS. The United Stateshad not done so, but had accepted during the course of the hearing that the fisheries law provi-sions of UNCLOS for the most part reflected international customary law.Google Scholar
98 Adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, 14 June 1992 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–1407 1992 (United Nations publication, Sales no. E. 93.1.8 and Corrigenda).Google Scholar
99 Final Act, Bonn, 23 06 1979, (1980) 19 ILM 15.Google Scholar
100 Above n 95, para 158.Google Scholar
101 Ibid.
102 Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures, reproduced in opcitn 94, 59–72.Google Scholar
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104 Ibid para 123.
105 Ibid para 124.
17 Ibid paras 124 and 125.
107 See, eg, Pauwelyn, ‘The Role of Public International Law in the WTO: How Far Can We Go?’ AJ1L 95 (2001) 535;Google ScholarMarceau, ‘WTO Settlement and Human Rights’ 13 EJ1L (2002) 753;Google Scholar Sands above n 3; Lowenfeld, International Economic Law (OUP Oxford 2002) 314–39;Google Scholar and Pauwelyn, Conflict of Norms in Public International Law (CUP Cambridge 2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
108 WTO United States—Standards for Reformulated and Conventional Gasoline—Report ofthe Appellate Body (29 Apr 1996) WT/DS2/AB/R.Google Scholar
109 Above n 95 para 158 n 157. The clause is also referred to by a WTO Panel in United States-Section 110(5) of US Copyright Art — World Trade Organisation Panel Report (15 June 2000) WT/DS160/R, para 6.5.5.Google Scholar
110 Al-Adsani v United Kingdom Application no 35763/97 123ILR 24 (2001); Fogarty v United Kingdom Application no 37112/97) 123 ILR 54 (2001); and McElhinney v Ireland Application no31253/96 123 ILR 73 (2001). The ECtHR also referred to Article 31(3)(c) in Bantovíc v Belgium 123 ILR 94 (2001) at 108 para 57. For a critique of the Court's approach, see Orakhelaskvili(2003) 14 EJ1L 529.Google Scholar
112 Ibid Al-Adsani 49– 51, Dissenting Opinion of Judges Rozakis and Caflisch, joined by JudgesWildhaber, Costa, Cabral Barreto, and Vajic.
113 Ibid.McElhinney 88, Dissenting Opinion of Judges Caflisch, Cabral Barreto, and Vajic.
114 Op cit n 1.Google Scholar
115 Art XXI para 2.Google Scholar
116 Cf the position in Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaraguav United States of America) ICJ Rep (1986) 14, in which the Court was asked to interpret verysimilar treaty language, but also had an additional basis for its jurisdiction as a result of unilateraldeclarations made by both parties under Art 36, para 2 of its Statute.Google Scholar
117 Art XX para l(d).Google Scholar
118 Rejoinder of the United States, 23 Mar 2001, Part IV 139–40.Google Scholar
119 Op cit n 1 para 40 1352.Google Scholar
120 Ibid para 41 1352
121 Ibid para 78 1362.
122 The Court entered judgment by 14 votes to 2 declining to uphold Iran's claim (Judges Al-Khasawneh and Elaraby dissenting) and by 15 votes to 1 declining to uphold the United States'counterclaim (Judge Simma dissenting).Google Scholar
123 Ibid 1409–13 paras 20–32.
124 Ibid 1410 paras 22–3.
125 Ibid 1430–4 paras 5–16.
126 Ibid 1431 para 6.
127 Ibid 1432 para 9.
128 Ibid.
129 Ibid para 10.
130 Ibid 1386–8 paras 40–54.
131 Ibid 1387 para 46.
132 Ibid 1387 para 49.
133 Ibid 1396–1402 paras 21–52
134 Ibid 1400 para 42.
135 Ibid 1401 para 48.
136 Ibid 1402 para 52.
137 Annuaire (1952–1) 200–1. For a similar analysis as applied to statutory interpretation indomestic law see: Glazebrook, ‘Filling the gaps’ in Bigwood, (ed) The Statute: Making and Meaning (LexisNexis Wellington 2004) 153.Google Scholar
138 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 21; as to which see: Pellet, ‘Applicable Law’ in Cassese et al The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Couri: A Commentary (OUP Oxford 2002) 1051Google Scholar
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142 See, eg, Loizidou v Turkey (Preliminary Objections), ECHR, series A [1995] no 310 and lssa v Turkey (Application no 31831/96, 16 November 2004). See also the reliance on the public inter-national law rules of jurisdiction in Bankovíc op cit n 110 paras 59–60 109.Google Scholar
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145 This was the approach adopted by the GATT panel in United States — Restrictions onImports of Tuna, 16 June 1994, and adopted DS29/R para 5.19.Google Scholar
146 See, eg, the emphasis placed in Shrimp-Turtle on the fact that, although the United Stateshad not ratified UNCLOS, it had accepted during the course of argument that the relevant provi-sions for the most part reflected international customary law (above n 95 para 51).Google Scholar
147 Pauwelyn above n 6, 257— 63 supports this approach in the case of the WTO CoveredAgreements.Google Scholar
148 See, eg, the sources relied upon by the Appellate Body in Shrimp-Turtle, above n 95 para 51.Google Scholar
149 For a recent exploration of this idea in the context of the WTO Covered Agreements, seePauwelyn, above n 6, ch 8 440–86 and Pauwelyn ‘A Typology of Multilateral Treaty Obligations: Are WTO Obligations Bilateral or Collective in Nature?’ (2003) 14 EJIL 907.Google Scholar
150 See the text above at n 87.Google Scholar
151 OSPAR Tribunal Arbitral Award in Mox Plant, above n 71 para 103 1138. Waldock antic-ipated this point in his initial draft formulation of Art 56 of the VCLT: see text above at n 59. Thisphenomenon is well developed in the case of domestic statutory interpretation by Bradley, aboven 36.Google Scholar
152 Oppenheim above n 139 1282.Google Scholar
153 Thirlway, above n 14 at 57. See also: Thirlway, ‘The Law and Procedure of the International Court of Justice 1960–1989 (Part two), (1989) 60 BYIL 1 at 135–43Google Scholar and Rosalyn, Higgins ‘Time and the Law: International Perspectives on an Old Problem’ (1997) 46 ICLQ 501, 515–19.Google Scholar
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157 A point made by Pauwelyn, above n 6 at 272.Google Scholar
158 These include the other rules being discussed by the ILC Study Group on the Fragmentation of International Law, discussed in the text above at nn 32–5.Google Scholar
159 Brownlie (2001), above n 28 at 14.Google Scholar
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161 These broader ideas are developed by the author in: ‘After Baghdad: Conflict or Coherence in International Law?’ 2003) 1 NZJPIL (25.Google Scholar