Call It the ‘WTO Charter’: John Jackson and His Abiding Concern for Treaty Nomenclature and Structure

Abstract

As a former postgraduate student in John Jackson’s last class at the University of Michigan School of Law, I still recall how privileged we felt to learn at the feet of the academic founding father of both the field of International Trade Law and the WTO as a formally constituted international organization. In my tribute, I first wish to draw attention to a unique feature in John Jackson’s writings, namely his consistent use of the term ‘WTO Charter’ in lieu of the formally correct terms ‘Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization’ or ‘WTO Agreement’. According to the UN Treaty Section, the term ‘charter’ refers to ‘particularly formal and solemn instruments, such as the constituent treaty of an international organization’. The WTO Agreement plainly meets that definition. Now John Jackson did not explicitly propose that the name of the WTO Agreement be changed to ‘WTO Charter’. As is widely known, however, the WTO’s