International Treaty Law

Study Notes

Conflicts in international treaty law typically involve perceived inconsistencies or contradictions between the provisions of two or more treaties.
This conflict arises when states are party to multiple treaties addressing the same or related issues, with provisions appearing incompatible or mutually exclusive.
Conflicts can take various forms:
- Normative conflict: Obligations or requirements in one treaty clash with those in another (contradictory rules, standards, or principles).
- Temporal conflict: Different timeframes or effective dates for treaty provisions create a conflict (later-in-time rule often applies).
- Substantive conflict: Discrepancies in the content or substance of treaty obligations make simultaneous compliance challenging.
- Procedural conflict: Differences in mechanisms or procedures for dispute resolution, implementation, or other treaty-related processes.
Conflicts are crucial for maintaining the coherence and effectiveness of the international legal system.
Several principles and rules are applied to resolve treaty conflicts:
- Principles of lex specialis (specific law prevails), lex posterior (later law overrides), and good faith interpretation.
- Dispute-resolution mechanisms can be used to clarify treaty obligations.

Conflicts are broadly categorized:
- Conflicts between bilateral treaties: States are parties to multiple bilateral treaties, and obligations to different partners are incompatible.
- Increasing membership conflicts: As more states join, existing bilateral treaties may clash with multilateral ones.
- Decreasing membership conflicts: As membership in treaties shrinks, some bilateral treaties might conflict with those remaining.

The best solution is to prevent such conflicts during treaty drafting.
Solutions include:
- Drafting techniques: Thoughtful wording prevents potential conflicts.
- Applying general principles of law: Using appropriate legal principles helps resolve conflicts.
- Treaty interpretation: Interpreting treaties consistently helps ensure compatibility.
- Codified rules (e.g., VCLT): Codified rules within international law like the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) help settle conflicts.

Treaties may explicitly address conflicts with other treaties (e.g., primacy or subordination)
Article 103 of the UN Charter is an example where obligations under the Charter take precedence over conflicting international agreements
Similar examples of subordination clauses can be found in Article 21 of the League of Nations Covenant.

If a treaty doesn't address potential conflicts, residual rules from the VCLT apply.
These rules often comprise a complex balance among principles, including:
- Pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept)
- Pacta tertiis nec nocent nec prosunt (agreements do not harm or benefit third parties)
- Lex posterior derogat legi priori (later law overrides earlier law)
The application of these rules depends on specifics, like whether the parties to successive treaties are the same; different parties require consideration of pacta tertiis.

Treaty norms and customary norms can conflict.
Treaty norms: Agreed rules in formal written treaties.
Customary norms: Unwritten rules arising from state practice, widely followed and recognized as legally binding.
Conflicts arise when treaty obligations are perceived as conflicting with established customary international law.
There isn't a universal hierarchy in general international law.
The lex specialis principle: more specific or detailed treaty norms usually prevail over general customary norms.

Objective theory: if a later treaty contradicts an earlier one, the later treaty is considered void.
Subjective theory: both treaties are valid, and the obligated state chooses which one to apply. This choice leads to international responsibility, potentially requiring damages.

Treaty conflicts are a complex issue in international law.
Addressing them involves understanding nuances in treaty drafting, interpretation, and applying relevant rules (like from the VCLT)
Solutions must consider various principles.