Text Of Treaty Research Articles

Review: Treaties and Their Practice -- Symptoms of Their Rise and Decline

This essay reviews George Nolte’s 2018 book, Treaties and their Practice – Symptoms of Their Rise and Decline. In particular, it engages with Nolte’s analogy of treaty-making to the crew tying Ulysses to the mast in their encounter with the Sirens. It surveys a range of the most important treaty regimes today, including treaties on (i) international peace and security; (ii) human rights; (iii) trade; (iv) investment; and (v) the environment (chiefly, climate change). In doing so, the essay explores whether (and how well) Nolte employs treaty “practice” as a less myopic vehicle for evaluating modern treaty-making than the conventional emphasis on treaty texts alone. In particular, the review highlights a series of reinforcing dichotomies that Nolte (and others) may use to evaluate treaty-making – contrasting the treaty’s rise with its decline; narrow meanings of practice with broad ones; legal applications with political tensions; treaty compliance with treaty effectiveness; and a bird’s eye view with the perspective of a worm. Each dichotomy helps international lawyers look beyond treaty texts and reorient their focal points for a broader – and more pluralist – vision of the role of treaties in the current age.

The updated ICRC Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention: A new tool to protect prisoners of war in the twenty-first century

AbstractSince their publication in the 1950s and 1980s respectively, the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 have become a major reference for the application and interpretation of those treaties. The International Committee of the Red Cross, together with a team of renowned experts, is currently updating these Commentaries in order to document developments and provide up-to-date interpretations of the treaty texts. This article highlights key points of interest covered in the updated Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention. It explains the fundamentals of the Convention: the historical background, the personal scope of application of the Convention and the fundamental protections that apply to all prisoners of war (PoWs). It then looks at the timing under which certain obligations are triggered, those prior to holding PoWs, those triggered by the taking of PoWs and during their captivity, and those at the end of a PoW's captivity. Finally, the article summarizes key substantive protections provided in the Third Convention.

El concepto de contrato de trabajo en el marco del Convenio de Lugano. Comentario a la Sentencia del TJUE de 11 de abril de 2019, asunto C-603/17, Bosworth y Hurley = The concept of employment contract in the Lugano Convention. Commentary of the Judgement ot the CJEU Avril 11, 2019, case C-603/17, Bosworth and Hurley

Resumen: El TJUE se pronuncia, por primera vez, sobre el alcance de los foros de competencia judicial internacional en materia de contrato individual de trabajo del Convenio Lugano II. El paralelis­mo de este Convenio con el Reglamento Bruselas I se reproduce en esta decisión del Alto Tribunal, que sigue su jurisprudencia sobre la calificación del contrato de trabajo en el marco de las disposiciones del Reglamento europeo. Esta simetría no se ha mantenido tras la promulgación del Reglamento Bruselas I bis, por lo que la reciente decisión de los jueces de Luxemburgo pone sobre el papel la necesidad de una revisión del texto convencional.Palabras clave: Convenio Lugano II, competencia judicial internacional, contrato de trabajo, ac­ción procesal.Abstract: The CJEU pronounces, for the first time, on the scope of the international jurisdiction regarding the individual employment contract of the Lugano II Convention. The parallelism of this Con­vention with the Brussels I Regulation is reproduced in this decision of the High Court, which follows its jurisprudence on the qualification of the employment contract within the framework of the provisions of the European Regulation. This symmetry has not been maintained after the promulgation of the Brussels I bis Regulation, so the recent decision of the Luxembourg judges puts on paper the need for a revision of the treaty text.Keywords: Lugano II Convention, international jurisdiction, employment contract, legal action.

Radiological Weapons (Excerpts from the History of Ban Talks)

Abstract. The article highlights the history of radiological weapons ban negotiations. In 1948, the United Nations Commission on Conventional Armaments identified radiological weapons as WMD. Since as early as the 1960s, some states have put forward proposals to ban radiological weapons at the international level as potentially threatening human lives and the environment. In 1977 to 1979, a treaty banning radiological weapons was approved on the basis of a draft developed at bilateral Soviet-American negotiations in Geneva, which could have become an important impetus for further actions in limiting the arms race. The careful preparation of the text of the future treaty by the USSR and US delegations raised expectations that its finalisation by the Disarmament Commission would not take much time. The reality, however, was far different. In December 1979, the Afghan war broke out. In response to the Soviet aggression against Afghanistan, the United States took a whole set of measures, including the refusal to continue bilateral talks on the prohibition of radiological weapons. The author notes that control over radioactive materials was strengthened at the national level, without waiting for an international legal definition of radiological weapons. Political ambitions of a number of countries have prevented the Conference on Disarmament from achieving positive results. The author emphasises that today nuclear terrorism is regarded by world leaders as an urgent global-scale security threat, as confirmed by the international Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. in 2016, attended by delegations from over 50 countries. The author states that the issue of the radiological weapons prohibition remains pending. Keywords: radiological weapons, Conference on Disarmament, Ukrainian diplomatic history, USA, Geneva, USSR.

The Reform of the ESM and Why It Is So Controversial in Italy

* The draft reform of the European Stability Mechanism (henceforth ESM) was not approved as scheduled in the Euro Summit in December 2019 because the Italian Prime Minister was obliged to ask for a delay in the face of strong domestic opposition to the reform coming from populist parties. * It is not clear if the reform will ever be approved and if, in this case, the Conte government will survive. * The arguments used by the populists against the reform are deeply flawed. * The proposed changes in the text of the EMS Treaty are relatively minor and do not contain any mechanism of automatic restructuring of the debt of countries asking for financial assistance from the ESM. * However, the small changes in the text reflect the idea that Italy will soon be obliged to restructure the debt. The only possible answer by the Italian authorities is to set up a plan for a gradual reduction of the debt to GDP ratio. * Restructuring the debt may be a painful necessity, but it is not a way to solve the problem of the debt in a country in which most of the debt is held by residents.

Transfer of Thrace to Greece By the Allied Powers (1920)

<p class="ql-align-justify">After World War I, the balances between the Entente States aimed at reshaping the Balkan geography in line with their political, military, economic, social and cultural concerns led to an increase in the influence of Greece in occupied Thrace. The Allied Powers, which signed the armistice of Salonica with Bulgaria and the Mudros Armistice with Turkey, primarily prepared the military infrastructure and made it easier for Greece to feel its influence in Western and Eastern Thrace. In the process of the Treaty of Sèvres, the Allied Powers gave approval for the military occupation of Thrace by Greece. Meanwhile The Allied Powers, which subsequently imposed the treaty of Neuilly on Bulgaria and the Treaty of Sèvres on Turkey, handed over Thrace to Greece officially, with certain conditions and obligations under the Treaty concerning Thrace signed at Sèvres. In this study, which aims to analyze the factors and variables affecting the transfer of Thrace to Greece by the Allied Powers which is of great importance to the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkish Straits, Black Sea and Anatolia with the Balkans. together with the British archival documents and the treaties texts, will be used. British archival documents offer a different perspective on the approaches of the Allied Powers to Thrace and their approach to the Greek operation during the Sèvres process. It is expected that the treaty texts signed with the Treaty of Sèvres and which are not mentioned much in the literature, areexpected to make a significant contribution to this study by revealing the conditions and obligations of Thrace that were transferred to Greece.

Comparative Analysis between the 2018 and 2004 Dutch Model Bilateral Investment Treaty Texts

This article compares the recently published 2018 Dutch model bilateral investment treaty text (2018 Model bit) and the former 2004 version. The changes to the 2018 Model BIT reflect the reaction by European Union (EU) Member States to the increasing number of investor-state disputes against them, the general backlash against free trade agreements (FTA), and the CJEU’S decision in Achmea. Furthermore, the drafters of the new Dutch Model bit carefully took into consideration the framework of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the European Commission’s proposal for the establishment of an Investment Court System (ICS) as a substitute for the current investor-state dispute settlement system (ISDS). As a result, the 2018 text incorporates significantly stricter provisions than the ones of the former version.

Events in Ukraine 1914–1922 Their Importance and Historical Background (Part 2)

The editorial board continues to publish the most significant documents, which characterize the status and progress of the Ukrainian national liberation movement, its vision in other countries in the early 20th century. The documents from the first book «Events in Ukraine 1914–1922 their importance and historical background» were published in Volume 39 of the Scientific journal. We publish the papers from the second book in current volume. We have selected 10 documents that chronologically cover the period from January 17 to May 9, 1918, and reproduce the vision of the Ukrainian problem by the ruling circles of Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany, as well as the efforts of Ukrainian public-political figures aimed at the election of Ukraineʼs independence, reproduce the atmosphere of negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. The Austrian drafts of the imperial manifesto on the occasion of the peace treaty with Ukraine and the protocols of meetings of the German, Austrian and Ukrainian delegations during the preparation of the peace treaty are presented as the first 4 documents. The text of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty signed on 9February, 1918 is the fifth document. The following five documents characterize the attitude of Soviet Russia and Poland to the provisions of the Treaty, as well as Germany’s attitude to the state affiliation of the Kholmshchyna. These documents will be useful for both students and researchers of international relations and history of Ukraine in the early 20th century. Whereas we have selected documents from different parts of the book, we stored their serial numbers. Page numbers are shown in square brackets after the text. The language, style of the headings and captions, cursive and text selection are all preserved. Also, for convenience of possible use by interested persons, we submit to them a list of abbreviations from the second book in the original.&#x0D; Keywords: Austro-Hungarian Empire, Brest-Litovsk peace treaty, Galicia, Germany, Ukraine, The Ukrainian Peopleʼs Republic, Ukrainian national movement, Ukrainians, Kholmshchyna.

China and the Emerging Powers in International Trade Relations: The Future of the Multilateral Trade System, the Role of Free Trade Agreements and New Unilateralism

The shifting trends in trade relations between the major partners indicate that we are witnessing the emergence of long-term changes in international trade policy that extend well beyond current events. Does this development in international trade relations point to a future characterized by conflict, as is suggested by the disputes of the US with China and the European Union – a future informed by aggressive unilateralism and a retreat from international law and multilateral cooperation? At the time of the founding of the World Trade Organization in the mid-90s and the considerable achievements around multilateral trade system liberalization brought about through the new WTO treaty texts, the implications posed by the emerging states were somewhere off in the still distant future. In the course of rapid development, we have now reached that future, and we have a clearer view of the actual form it takes. It raises the question of how the global power balance will unfold in the face of the continuing growth in the importance of Asia, in particular China, and the concurrent relative loss of importance of the West. And does the currently observed rise in unilateralism point to a future in which the previous model of a liberal trade order can no longer be maintained, and in which multilateral structures are increasingly replaced by forms of an alternative trade policy? This article explains the striking movements in trade policy as being intimately related to overarching changes in the overarching world order: The changes in trade policy strategies are evolving as a response to global changes in the competitive environment, in which the emerging powers are gaining importance not only economically but politically and geopolitically as well. This is the background against which the author will discuss the perspectives of the shifting international trade regime, which simultaneously expresses an ever more clearly defined reorganization of transnational relations.

Next Generation EA in the BBNJ Regime? An Assessment of the State of the Negotiations

The objective of this article is to assess prospects for an effective EA regime for the High Seas through the BBNJ process. We start our review by considering key elements of the existing international legal regime for EAs. Twelve elements of “Next Generation EA” are then offered and explored as a standard against which to assess the state of the negotiations and as inspiration for a new legally binding instrument. This is followed with an overview of the current state of the negotiations, explored through formal submissions made to date and the first draft of a treaty text from May, 2019. We conclude with an assessment of the gaps between the current state of the negotiations and the “Next Generation EA” standard, and our thoughts how the new instrument could evolve through the ongoing negotiations to meet the “Next Generation EA” standard.

Reforming Shareholder Claims in ISDS

At its 37th session, UNCITRAL Working Group III (WGIII) indicated that it would study shareholder claims as a possible subject of reform. This paper aims to support WGIII and the UNCITRAL Secretariat in this effort, with a particular focus on claims for shareholder reflective loss (SRL). ISDS stands alone in empowering shareholders to bring claims for reflective loss. National systems of corporate law generally bar SRL claims for strong policy reasons bearing on the efficiency and fairness of the corporate form. Though neither necessitated by treaty text, nor beneficial in policy terms, ISDS tribunals nevertheless allow shareholders broad and regular access to seek relief for reflective loss. The availability of SRL claims in ISDS ultimately harms States and investors alike, imposing surprise ex post costs on States and various corporate stakeholders (particularly creditors), and creating perverse incentives likely to raise the cost of doing business ex ante. The paper first explains ISDS tribunals’ permissive approach to SRL. Second, it sets out the harms caused by allowing ISDS claims for reflective loss. Third, it explores possible justifications for allowing SRL claims in this context. We suggest, however, that potential benefits of SRL can be realized through less invasive means. Fourth, this paper explores how States and tribunals have sought to mitigate problems associated with SRL. While important, these solutions have mostly proven irregular, inconsistent, and incomplete. Fifth, this paper concludes by setting targets for reforming shareholder claims in a balanced manner, taking into account the diversity of interests at stake.

Behavioral Law and Economics as a Method of International Law

The effort to answer questions concerning whether international law relevantly reflects the reality of international community, especially in terms of the explanatory capability, goes hand in hand with the study on the methodologies of international law. Twenty years ago, the interesting opportunity was given to seven methodologies of international law to express their respective strengths and weaknesses to handle with a given same international law questions. Positivism, policy-oriented jurisprudence, critical legal studies were invited at the feast of international law methodologies. Surprisingly, law and economics was also invited to it. Despite of its strength to explain cause and effect of international actors’ behavior through empirical approach, law and economics is not fully welcomed by international law scholars because its approach does not seem to pay due attention to the normative aspect of international law. Contrast with the passive reception of law and economics approach in the field of international law, law and economics is actively employed to improve effectiveness and efficiency of legal norms and institutions in the area of domestic law including contract law, criminal law and litigation procedure. Shared with the fundamental assumptions of neo-classical economics, law and economics explores effectiveness and efficiency of legal norms and institutions through the lens of the perfect rationality. Put it differently, law and economics usually begins its analysis on assumptions that Homo economicus has the perfect rationality which enables Homo economicus to make a rational choice at any circumstance. However, empirical and psychological experiments give much reason to doubt over assumptions of law and economics: Homo economicus is undoubtedly subject to the bounded rationality rather than the perfect rationality. With the help of cognitive psychology, behavioral law and economics based on behavioral economics fiercely challenges the unreality of law and economics. The core concepts including heuristics, framing effect, loss aversion and status quo bias are used as the powerful weapons by behavioral law and economics to expose the bounded rationality embodied in Homo economicus. As yet, international law does not appear to take behavioral law and economics seriously as a method of international law. There are lots of reasons to explain this phenomenon. Generally, the reluctance of international law scholars to apply economic analysis to international law can be suggested as the main reason. International law scholars criticize law and economics as an empty method because it does not focus on the normative nature of international law. In this sense, behavioral law and economics, which is harshly criticized by neo-classical economics, seems to have a hard time to occupy the right place in the international law methodologies. But this should not be the end of story. The main purpose of this article is to explore the usefulness of behavioral law and economics as a method of international law. Despite of its above mentioned weaknesses, advantages of behavioral law and economics clearly exist in the field of studies concerning how to design treaty text for the purpose of effective compliance, and to create a new international institutions’ mechanism to assist the cooperation of states regardless of their respective interests. Moreover, behavioral law and economics makes a bold attempt to redirect the path towards the studies of international law methodologies which is overwhelmingly dominated by the mainstream international law methodologies. In other words, behavioral law and economics discloses the hidden reason why international law scholars ardently sticks to the mainstream international law methodologies, especially positivism, despite of its incapability to address international law problems effectively. Behavioral law and economics can serve as a visible, enriching alternative and complement

Business and Human Rights Treaty: A New Era for Public Participation in International Investment Agreements?

International trade and investment agreements are problematic from a participatory rights perspective because they are typically negotiated without adequate opportunities for participation of the public. Such agreements provide for disputes concerning public policy to be decided by private arbitration, with little or no participation of the people they affect. The business and human rights treaty provides an unprecedented opportunity to create binding obligations on states to ensure trade and investment agreements are drafted and interpreted consistently with their obligation to uphold participatory rights. This thesis examines whether and how the business and human rights treaty could achieve this goal. It concludes that participatory rights should be embedded in the treaty text, with recommendations for what should be included.

Investor-Community Conflicts in Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Rethinking “Reasonable Expectations” and Expecting More from Investors

Within the fraught field of investor-state dispute settlement, no cases are more controversial than those in which an investor seeks damages for the cancellation of a project following an outcry by local communities over potential environmental or social impacts. Tribunals have almost always ruled for the investor in these cases, typically reasoning that the cancellation frustrated the investor’s “reasonable” or “legitimate” expectations. This Article argues that tribunals have often overlooked or downplayed factors that should limit investors’ expectations when undertaking high-impact projects, including specific aspects of domestic environmental law and the host state’s international human rights and environmental obligations. The Article also examines factors beyond investor expectations that may be relevant to liability or quantum in such cases, including local remedies and emerging standards of conduct with which investors should be expected to comply. Finally, the Article shows that the proposed interpretive framework is consistent with the texts of investment treaties and their underlying rationales and could address a number of concerns that threaten these treaties’ long-term viability.

Applicable Law Provisions in Investment Treaties: Forever Midnight Clauses?

Abstract Building on the growing awareness that applicable law determinations are one of the places where the balance between investor and state interests is struck in investment disputes, the article probes the capacity of applicable law provisions (ALPs) in investment treaties to contribute to its regulation. Based on a large scale survey of treaty texts (1000+ treaties), the article argues that there is a misunderstanding of ALPs by negotiators despite greater engagement with these provisions. The article uncovers a mismatch between the questions of choosing among different potentially applicable laws and their proper interpretation, which are salient in investment arbitration, and the focus of ALP drafting. Even recent ALPs seem primarily used as tools to circumscribe tribunals’ jurisdiction, which leads to their redundancy. To bridge this gap, the article argues for a structural change bringing ALPs in investment treaties closer to choice of law provisions proper.

Canadian Interpretation and Construction of Maritime Conventions

In this article, the author first describes the essentially civilian nature and origin of maritime law in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, a point unfortunately overlooked in the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in the Buenos Aires Maru case [1986] 1 S.C.R. 752, but recognized in the judgement of the same Court in Chartwell Shipping Ltd v. Q.N.S. Paper, [1989] 2 S.C.R. 683. The article touches briefly on the federal jurisdiction over maritime law in Canada, the dual jurisdiction of the Federal Court and the superior courts of the provinces in maritime matters and the mixed civilian / common law system in Quebec. Consideration is then given to the Constitution Act, 1867, as interpreted by the much-criticized Labour Conventions decision of the Privy Council [1937] A.C. 326. The decision held that although the power to conclude international treaties and conventions in Canada is vested in the federal government alone, the enactment of the domestic legislation required to secure the implementation of such international agreements is not an exclusively federal matter, but may be a question of either federal or provincial competence, depending on the subject matter of the treaty or convention concerned. The author then reviews the principal rules of statutory interpretation which are provided for by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969. He points out that, notwithstanding Canada’s ratification of this Convention in 1970, Canadian courts still tend to apply traditional (and often narrow) techniques of statutory interpretation when called upon to construe treaty texts, rather than keeping the goals of the agreement and intent of the parties in view, as the Vienna Convention requires. He indicates, however, a more recent judicial trend towards a more liberal methodology, as evidenced in decisions like R. v. Palacios, (1984) 45 O.R. (2d) 269 (Ont. C.A.) The article concludes with a brief overview of the major statutory interpretation rules applied by Canadian courts in construing local laws and international agreements and some aids to such interpretation. Professor Tetley, as a last tribute, applauds what he sees to be the slowly emerging "general consensus" on statutory and treaty interpretation in Canada.

Some issues of application of the Association Agreement as the source of copyright of Ukraine

The article covers the main aspects of the Association Agreement as a source of copyright and problems of its application.On the example of the practice of the Court of the European Union, the criteria on the basis of which the law of the EU can be applied directly and without the implementation in the domestic law were established.Based on the analysis of the rules of the current legislation of Ukraine, it was concluded that the Association Agreement is the part of the national legislation and is applied in the same manner as foreseen for the rules of the national legislation. In the context of copyright, the Agreement has primacy over domestic law provisions that contain rules other than those in the Agreement.Since Ukrainian courts do not refer to the authentic text of the international treaty in a foreign language but to its official translation, the article analyses the legislation in this regard. It is established that in the law of Ukraine there is no provision which obliges to use only the official translation of the international treaty and prohibits the use of the authentic text of the treaty in another language in which it was concluded. However, if the party of the case indicates that the translation of the text of the international treaty is inaccurate and will refer to the authentic text in a foreign language, the court will not take this into account. The article gives an example of such a case, where the claimant tried to draw the court’s attention to the English text of the Association Agreement but the court used the text of the official translation.There are some problems in the official translation of the text of the Association Agreement illustrated by two examples. In Part 2 of Art. 180 translators added the term «mathematical expression» which significantly influences the criteria for providing legal protection to computer programs while in the original text of the Agreement there is no such a term. In Art. 174 translators confused «right of making the work available to the public for the first time» and «right of communication to the public» and incorrectly translated the term «exhaustion of rights». As a result of these errors, a new content was formed which completely differs from the wording of this article in the authentic English text.Due to the fact that some errors found in the official translation of the text of the Agreement have a direct effect on the legal relationships in the field of copyright, this means that the same legal relationship in the EU and Ukraine is regulated differently by the same rule of the Agreement. It is concluded that the official translation of the Association Agreement needs to be amended as the accuracy of the translation is very important for the application of the Agreement.

To incorporate the CRC or not – is this really the question?

ABSTRACTInternational human rights law maintains a patchy record of implementation in national systems. Tangible implementation is sporadic at best and ill-conceived at worst, with the middle ground affecting a demeanour of sustained non-commitment to human rights. International human rights treaties universally contain a call to States Parties to implement or give legal effect to the obligations found in the treaty text; the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is no different. Most states that made some effort to incorporate the Convention have been selective in implementing the obligations, opting for an á la carte selection of rights protection rather than the full menu of rights. This situation stems from a range of legal and political realities. The article examines the concept of incorporation by surveying examples of CRC implementation across a number of states. The aim is to contribute to current debates about the value of incorporation of the CRC.

“ВЕСТФАЛЬСКИЙ МИФ” И “ВЕСТФАЛЬСКИЙ” СУВЕРЕНИТЕТ

The article focuses on the origin of so-called Westphalian sovereignty. There was a popular idea among many IR scholars, that Europe had hierarchical state system before the Westphalian Peace Congress built on the model of the feudal order. It was argued that as a result of the signing of the Peace Treaty of Westphalia, a new international order was created based on the interaction of numerous sovereign states that treated each other as equals. The author analyzes the evolution of the medieval state system and concludes that it went through several stages. The barbarian kingdoms, having full sovereignty, were fragmented into various polities (duchies, counties, baronies, etc.) due to the weakening of royal power. However, this process was completed by the 14th century, and sovereign kingdoms that did not recognize the suzerainty of the Emperor or the Pope, n became the main players on the political stage again. Moreover, there was a concept of precedence among nations, which determined the status of the state in the European state system. It did not oblige politicians of lower status to obey their superior, but at the same time, high status was perceived as a value in itself. The author also examines the text of the Westphalian Treaty and demonstrates that there is no mention of sovereignty there. Those formulas that can be interpreted as a reference to sovereignty, repeat the text of previous treaties or are a consolidation of existing practices. The author demonstrates that after the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, the concept of priority remained until the end of the Ancien Regime. To demonstrate how complex the concept of sovereignty was in the Early Modern Europe, the author explores the process of independence by the Netherlands and Switzerland, showing that none of them was formally enshrined in the Westphalian Treaty.

Conflicting Norms, Values, and Interests: A Perspective from Legal Academia

AbstractThe analytical tension between legal norms, moral values, and national interests seems no uncharted territory in political science, but has found very little interest in legal academia. For lawyers, moral values and national interests are largely “unknowns,” dealt with by other disciplines. Looking a bit deeper, the picture becomes more nuanced, however. As part of a roundtable on “Balancing Legal Norms, Moral Values, and National Interests,” this essay argues that norms, values, and interests are not different universes of legal normativity, morality, and specific interests, but are interrelated concepts. Values clearly influence norms and often underpin them, while seemingly concrete norms (rules) are themselves often fragile constructs trying to balance competing interests. Value systems are quite diverse within societies, and this is even truer for interests; each society is a dynamic system of social interaction where conflicting interests are constantly playing out. In a way, underlying conflicts of values and interests are constantly being renegotiated in the legal system, with the norms enshrined in the text of statutes and treaties serving to constitute transitory reference points.