TheTravauxofTravaux: Is the Vienna Convention Hostile to Drafting History?

Abstract

It is often asserted that the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) relegates drafting history to a rigidly subsidiary role in treaty interpretation. Many commentators go so far as to suggest that the VCLT entrenches a categorical prejudice againsttravaux préparatoires(travaux)—the preparatory work of negotiation, discussions, and drafting that produces a final treaty text. Because of this alleged hostility to history as a source of meaning, the conventional wisdom is that when an interpreter thinks a text is fairly clear and produces results that are not manifestly unreasonable or absurd, she ought to give that prima facie reading preclusive effect over anything the travaux might suggest to the contrary.

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