Law of Treaties

Catalog description

Treaties are the foundation of public and private international law and national foreign affairs law. This course examines: historical development of law of treaties; concept of treaty; treaty as source of international and national law; stages of concluding treaty; reservations; accession to treaties, functions of depositary; publication of treaties; breach of treaty obligations; invalidity, termination, and suspension of treaties; denunciation and other withdrawal from treaties; treaties and jus cogens; treaties and customary rules of international law; treaties and third States; treaties and municipal law; interpretation of treaties; languages and authentic texts of treaties. INTER 953 Law of Treaties (2) Treaties are the foundation of public and private international law and national foreign affairs law. This course examines: historical development of law of treaties; concept of treaty; treaty as source of international and national law; stages of concluding treaty; reservations; accession to treaties; functions of depositary; publication of treaties; breach of treaty obligations; invalidity, termination, and suspension of treaties; denunciation and other withdrawal from treaties; treaties andjus cogens ; treaties and customary rules of international law; treaties and third States; treaties and municipal law; interpretation of treaties; languages and authentic texts of treaties. Texts: A. Aust,Modern Treaty Law and Practice(Cambridge University Press, 2000); W. E. Butler,The Law of Treaties in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States(Cambridge University Press, 2002).The course aims to offer thorough instruction on the foundations and sources of the law of treaties, the role of treaties as a source of international law, the procedures of treaty-making, the relationship between treaties and customary international law and rules just cogens, and the role of language in treaty-formation.The general historical introduction and subsequent sections are designed to accentuate problems and issues which enable students to master the foundations of the law of treaties. Accordingly, students of this course should: (1) develop a more profound understanding of alternative approaches to legal reasoning and of legal concepts and institutions within the framework of international law; (2) enhance their skills of legal analysis (3) develop a greater awareness of concepts of legal science and legal systems; (4) read in some depth on the contemporary relevant principal documents on the law of treaties and appropriate doctrinal writings.At the end of the course students should: (1) have a sound grounding in how the law of treaties has developed; (2) be more demanding and rigorous in formulating and evaluating ideas and propositions; (3) have a sense of the virtues and limitations of comparison as a method of scientific inquiry in law through the analysis of relevant national legislation; (4) have a thorough command of the main principles and rules of the law of treaties; (5) give evidence of an ability to understand the other side of an argument, and better appreciate the strengths of an opposing view; (6) develop a willingness to question, to probe, to seek further information, and to display initiative in expanding one's knowledge.