Modern Treaty Law And Practice

A comprehensive treatment of the law of treaties written from the viewpoint of an experienced practitioner: the first book of its kind. Aust provides a wealth of examples of the practical problems experienced with treaties on a daily basis, not just when the treaty is the subject of a court case. The book contains numerous recent precedents of treaties and other treaty-related documents, which will be invaluable for the practitioner. Aust aims to supply the reader with a full understanding of treaties. He avoids technical language as far as possible, making his work accessible to non-lawyers. Although not primarily an academic work - it describes the treaty-making and treaty-using processes from the point of view of a practitioner of thirty years' experience - there is plenty to interest and inform students and academics, including those specialising in political science, international relations or diplomacy. Anthony Aust is a Legal Counsellor at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London. M O D E R N TREATY AND LAW PRACTICE A N T H O N Y AUST HH C A M B R I D G E UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED BY T H E P R E S S S Y N D I C A T E OF T H E U N I V E R S I T Y OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United K i n g d o m CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK www.cup.cam.ac.uk 40 West 20th Street, N e w York, NY 10011 -4211, USA www.cup.org 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarc6n 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain © A n t h o n y Aust 2000 This b o o k is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, n o reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2000 Printed in the United K i n g d o m at the University Press, Cambridge Typeset in M i n i o n 10.5/14 pt System QuarkXpress® A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Aust, Anthony. M o d e r n treaty law and practice / A n t h o n y Aust. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 521 59153 8 (hardbound) 1. Treaties. KZ1301.A93 341.3'7-dc21 I. Title. 2000 99-33753 CIP ISBN 0 521 59153 8 hardback ISBN 0 521 59846 X paperback [SE] Library For Katie and Sophie CONTENTS Foreword xv Acknowledgments xviii Table of treaties xx Table of MOUs xxx Table of cases xxxi Glossary of legal terms xxxiii List of abbreviations xxxvi Introduction 1 How to use this book 4 1 The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Scope of the Convention 7 The Convention and customary international law 9 Reference material on the Convention 12 2 What is a treaty? 14 Definition of'treaty' 14 A treaty does not have to be signed 24 Agreements