structural:expansion, information:classification, information:highlighting
Treaties

A treaty is defined in Article 2 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) as "an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation". The definition specifies that the parties must be states, however international organisations are also considered to have the capacity to enter treaties. Treaties are binding through the principle of pacta sunt servanda, which allows states to create legal obligations on themselves through consent. The treaty must be governed by international law; however it will likely be interpreted by national courts. The VCLT, which codifies several bedrock principles of treaty interpretation, holds that a treaty "shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose". This represents a compromise between three theories of interpretation: the textual approach which looks to the ordinary meaning of the text, the subjective approach which considers factors such as the drafters' intention, and the teleological approach which interprets a treaty according to its objective and purpose.