Why do states make treaties?

➢Facilitate cooperation (e.g. international trade)

➢Secure collective international goods (e.g.
international peace and security)
➢Agree common standards of conduct

➢Set up international institutions

What is a treaty?
➢Agreements governed by international law and concluded
between States or international organizations
➢Can be bilateral or multilateral
➢Title generally not important (may be called ‘conventions’,
‘covenants’, ‘protocols’, ‘declarations’, ‘joint statements’ )
➢Does not need to be in written form
Ius Cogens
➢Art. 52 VCLT: “peremptory rules of international law”
➢E.g. prohibition of use of force, prohibition of genocide, torture and other
crimes against humanity

➢Treaties in violation automatically null and void

The Making of Treaties

➢Negotiation
➢Representation with full powers

➢Adoption

➢Authentication

➢Expression of consent to be bound

➢Entry into force

Reservations to Treaties
➢To enable widest participation possible

➢“a unilateral statement, however phrased or named […]

whereby that State purports to exclude or modify the
legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their
application to that State”

➢Except when a) the treaty prohibits them

b) it is incompatible with the purpose
of the treaty
Application and Interpretation
➢Bind only states parties – but may have effects on third
states

➢Not binding retro-actively

➢Binding on entire territory

➢To be interpreted “in good faith”

➢Interpreters may consult preparatory materials of the
treaty
➢In cases of violation: negotiation; conciliation;
mediation; arbitration; and adjudication
Amending and ending treaties
➢Amendment requires consent of all parties
➢Treaty may be fragmented in application (e.g. 1929 Warsaw
Convention on International Carriage by Air)

➢Different ways to end:

• Invalidity
• Fulfilled purpose
• States unable to keep agreement/material breach