Imseis: Negotiating the Illegal: On the United Nations and the Illegal Occupation of Palestine, 1967-2020

Ardi Imseis (Queen’s Univ. - of Law) has posted Negotiating the Illegal: On the United Nations and the Illegal Occupation of Palestine, 1967-2020 (European Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article critically examines the UN’s commitment to the international rule of law through an examination of its position on occupied Palestine post-1967. Occupation of enemy territory is meant to be temporary and the occupying power may not rightfully claim sovereignty over such territory. Since 1967, Israel has systematically and forcibly altered the status of occupied Palestine, with the aim of annexing, de jure or de facto, most or all of it. While the UN has focused on the legality of Israel's discrete violations of humanitarian and human rights law, scant attention has been paid by the Organization to the legality of its occupation regime as a whole. By what rationale can it be said that Israel's prolonged occupation of Palestine remains legal? This paper argues that the occupation has become illegal for its systematic violation of at least three jus cogens norms. Although an increasing number of commentators have subscribed to this view, little attention has been paid to its relevant international legal consequences which dictate a paradigm shift away from negotiations as the condition precedent for ending the occupation, as unanimously affirmed by the international community through the UN.

Benson, King, & Walker: Assets, Crimes and the State: Innovation in 21st Century Legal Responses

Katie Benson (Lancaster Univ. - Criminology), Colin King (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Univ. of London), & Clive Walker (Univ. of Leeds - Law) have published Assets, Crimes and the State: Innovation in 21st Century Legal Responses (Routledge 2020). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Organised crime, corruption, and terrorism are considered to pose significant and unrelenting threats to the integrity, security, and stability of contemporary societies. Alongside traditional criminal enforcement responses, strategies focused on following the money trail of such crimes have become increasingly prevalent. These strategies include anti-money laundering measures to prevent ‘dirty money’ from infiltrating the legitimate economy, proceeds of crime powers to target the accumulated assets derived from crime, and counter-terrorist financing measures to prevent ‘clean’ money from being used for terrorist purposes.

This collection brings together 17 emerging researchers in the fields of anti-money laundering, proceeds of crime, counter-terrorist financing and corruption to offer critical analyses of contemporary anti-assets strategies and state responses to a range of financial crimes. The chapters focus on innovative anti-financial crime measures and assemblages of governance that have become a feature of late modernity and on the ways in which individual nation states have responded to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements in light of their specific social, political, and economic contexts. This collection draws on perspectives from law, criminology, sociology, politics, and other disciplines. It adopts a much-needed international approach, focusing not only on expected jurisdictions, such as the United States and United Kingdom, but also on analysis from countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, and Nigeria.

New Issue: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The latest issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (Vol. 53, no. 1, January 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Barnali Choudhury, International Investment Law and Noneconomic Issues
• Douglas E. Edlin, The Constitutional Logic of the Common Law
• Margaret K. Lewis, Why China Should Unsign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• Vald Perju, Identity Federalism in Europe and the United States

Call for Abstracts: 2020 ASIL Midyear Meeting

The American Society of International Law has issued a call for abstracts for its 2020 Research Forum at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, a part of the Society's Midyear Meeting, which will be held October 30-31. The deadline is May 18, 2020. Here's the call:

The American Society of International Law calls for submissions of scholarly paper proposals for the 2020 ASIL Research Forum to be held at ASIL Academic Partner Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, OH. The Research Forum, a Society initiative introduced in 2011, aims to provide a setting for the presentation and focused discussion of scholarly papers related to international law. All ASIL members are invited to attend the Forum, whether presenting a paper or not. Students and new professionals are especially encouraged to submit proposals for the Forum, and for the David Caron Prize (described below).

The Society plans to hold the Research Forum in person if it is possible to do so consistent with the safety and well-being of our attendees in light of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. We will explore alternative arrangements should it be impossible or inadvisable for an in-person gathering to take place in October, and if the public health situation prevents individual presenters from attending, we will work with them to arrange alternative options for remote participation.

Papers may be on any topic related to international and transnational law and must be unpublished (for purposes of the call, publication to an electronic database such as SSRN is not considered publication). Interdisciplinary projects, empirical studies, and jointly authored papers are welcome. To be selected for the Research Forum, interested presenters should submit an Abstract of no more than 500 words in length summarizing the scholarly paper by 5:00 PM EST on Monday, May 18, 2020. Abstracts should be submitted using the form below. The Abstracts will be considered via a blind review process. Abstracts that do not follow these guidelines will not be considered. Notifications of acceptance will go out in June.

Abstracts of papers accepted for presentation will be assembled into thematic panels. The organizers welcome volunteers to serve as discussants who will comment on the papers. All authors of accepted papers will be required to submit their completed paper four weeks before the Research Forum, Thursday, October 1. Accepted authors must commit to participating on both Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31, 2020. Papers will be posted in advance of the Forum on the Midyear Meeting App, accessible only by participants in the Meeting.

Presenters will have the option (subject to editorial approval) of being published in the spring 2021 double volume, ASIL Research Forum issue of the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. To qualify for publication in the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, papers must be between 15-30 single spaced pages, include citations in Bluebook format, and be submitted by September 7, 2020.

David D. Caron Prize

The David D. Caron Prize is awarded for the best paper presented at the Research Forum by (a) a student currently enrolled in a graduate program; or (b) a person who received a graduate degree not more than five years prior to the date of the Research Forum at which the paper is presented. Co-authored papers are eligible for consideration provided all the co-authors meet the requirements stated above. All papers submitted for the Caron Prize by the deadline will receive written feedback from members of the Selection Committee, in addition to the feedback provided at the Forum.

Individuals whose papers are accepted for the Research Forum and who wish to be considered for the prize must submit their papers by Monday, September 7. The prize committee will review submitted papers, provide authors with feedback, and make recommendations in advance of a second-round submission. Papers not received by this date will not be considered for the Prize. Please note that authors must actually present their papers at the Research Forum, where the Prize will be announced. Authors who anticipate financial barriers to attending the Forum should also apply for a David D. Caron Fellowship, described below. The Prize recipient will receive a travel stipend to attend the Society's 2021 Annual Meeting, where the Prize will be formally presented.

David D. Caron Fellowships

Student or early career authors of accepted abstracts will have the option to apply for a limited number of David D. Caron Fellowships, designed to provide financial assistance to individuals who would not otherwise be able to attend and present their scholarship. More information about these fellowships will be circulated to individuals whose papers are accepted.

New Issue: Global Trade and Customs Journal

The latest issue of Global Trade and Customs Journal (Vol. 15, nos. 3/4, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: Rules of Origin: A Comparative Analysis
• Juan David Barbosa, Rules of Origin: A Comparative Analysis
• Davide Rovetta, Agnieszka Smiatacz, Edwin Vermulst, & Emmanuelle Rogiest, Rules of Origin in the EU, a Simplification?
• Nataliia Isakhanova, Rules of Origin Under the Legislation of Ukraine and Its Correlation with International Treaties to Which Ukraine Is a Party, Including FTAs and PEM Convention
• V. Lakshmikumaran, Rules of Origin and the FTAs: Major Issues in India
• Daniel Rosenblatt, Peace and Prosperity: Israel’s Qualifying Industrial Zone Agreements with Jordan and Egypt
• Thinus Jacobsz, Rules of Origin. Notes on Challenges for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
• Giang Le & Hanh Bui, Vietnamese Exporters in the Midst of Rules of Origin Under FTAs
• Jean-Marc Clément, Proving FTA Preferential Tariff Eligibility: The Evidentiary Burden in Canada
• Gustavo A. Uruchurtu, The New Paradigms for the Rule of Origin in México
• Paola Arnolt & Horacio Cepeda, Rules of Origin in the Mercosur–UE Agreement
• María Noel Lascano, The Non-preferential Certification of Origin in Argentina
• Martín Mariotta, Fabrizzio de Armas, & Camilo Méndez, Jurisprudence of Civil Appeals Courts in the Matter of Rules of Origin (2013–2019)
• Andrea Weiss Balassiano, Rules of Origin in Brazil
• Juan David Barbosa Mariño & Juan David López Vergara, The Preferential and Non-preferential Certification of Origin in Colombia: Trends on the Origin Verification Process
• Brian Rankin Staples, Importers: Improve Origin Data Quality to Reduce Origin Liability
• Flavia Figueredo, Mistakes in Certificates of Origin. Relationship with the General Principles of Law, the Legal Type and the Subjective Aspects of Customs Infractions

New Volume: Yearbook of Polar Law

The latest volume of the Yearbook of Polar Law (Vol. 11, 2019) is out. Contents include:

• Rachael Lorna Johnstone & Guðmundur Alfreðsson, In Memoriam – Ágúst Þór Árnason, 26 May 1954–11 April 2019
• Aili Keskitalo, Opening Address
• Vittus Qujaukitsoq, The Constitutional History of Greenland: Speech by the Minister for Mineral Resources, Labour, Interior and Nordic Co-operation
• Yelena Yermakova, The Arctic: Press, Policy and the Arctic Council
• Malgorzata (Gosia) Smieszek, Steady as She Goes? Structure, Change Agents, and the Evolution of the Arctic Council
• Nigel Bankes, Arctic Ocean Management and Indigenous Peoples: Recent Legal Developments
• Ragnar Baldursson, An Icelandic Perspective: Opening the Arctic Ocean
• Elise Johansen, The Role of the Law of the Sea in Climate Change Litigation
• Alejandra Mancilla, Four Principles to Justify Claims to Jurisdiction and to Natural Resources in Antarctica
• Bent Ole Gram Mortensen & Ulrike Fleth-Barten, Denmark’s Obligations Regarding Mineral Resources in Greenland
• Astrid Nonbo Andersen, The Greenland Reconciliation Commission: Moving Away from a Legal Framework
• Apostolos Tsiouvalas, Mare Nullius or Mare Suum? Using Ethnography to Debate Rights to Marine Resources in Coastal Sámi Communities of Troms
• Gudmundur Alfredsson, Gun-Mari Lindholm, Göran Lindholm & Elisabeth Nauclér, History of Polar Law: Professor Atle Grahl-Madsen and the Seminars on the Small Nations of the North

New Issue: Journal of Conflict & Security Law

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict & Security Law (Vol. 25, no. 1, Spring 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Elliot Winter, Pillars not Principles: The Status of Humanity and Military Necessity in the Law of Armed Conflict
• Samuli Haataja, Cyber Operations and Collective Countermeasures under International Law
• Emma J Marchant, Insufficient Knowledge in Kunduz: The Precautionary Principle and International Humanitarian Law
• Manuel Galvis Martínez, Betrayal in War: Rules and Trends on Seeking Collaboration under IHL
• Verity Robson, The Common Approach to Article 1: The Scope of Each State’s Obligation to Ensure Respect for the Geneva Conventions
• Ahmed Almutawa, Designing the Organisational Structure of the UN Cyber Peacekeeping Team
• Nery Ramati, The Rulings of the Israeli Military Courts and International Law

Ramnath: Intertwined Itineraries: Debt, Decolonization, and International Law in Post-World War II South Asia

Kalyani Ramnath (Harvard Univ. - Center for History and Economics) has published Intertwined Itineraries: Debt, Decolonization, and International Law in Post-World War II South Asia (Law and History Review, Vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 1-24, February 2020). Here's the abstract:

This Article brings a Tamil-speaking Chettiar widow and a Dutch scholar of international law - two seemingly disparate characters - together through a footnote. Set against the background of decolonizing South and Southeast Asia in the aftermath of World War Two, it follows the judgment in a little-known suit for recovery of debt, filed at a district-level civil court in Madras in British India, which escaped the attention of local legal practitioners, but made its way into an international law treatise compiled and written in Utrecht, twenty years later. Instead of using it to trace how South Asian judiciaries interpreted international law, the Article looks at why claims to international law were made by ordinary litigants like Chettiar women in everyday cases like debt settlements, and how they became “evidence” of state practice for international law. These intertwined itineraries of law, that take place against the Japanese occupation of Burma and the Dutch East Indies and the postwar reconstruction efforts in Rangoon, Madras and Batavia, show how jurisdictional claims made by ordinary litigants form an underappreciated archive for histories of international law. In talking about the creation and circulation of legal knowledges, this Article argues that this involves thinking about and writing from footnotes, postscripts and marginalia - and the lives that are intertwined in them.

de Wet: Military Assistance on Request and the Use of Force

Erika de Wet (Univ. of Graz - Law) has published Military Assistance on Request and the Use of Force (Oxford Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

In countries such as Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen, internationally recognized governments embroiled in protracted armed conflicts, and with very little control over their territory, have requested direct military assistance from other states. These requests are often accepted by the other states, despite the circumvention of the United Nations Security Council and extensive violation of international humanitarian law and human rights.

In this book, Erika De Wet examines the authority entitled to extend a request for (or consent to) direct military assistance, as well as the type of situations during which such assistance may be requested, notably whether it may be requested during a civil war. Ultimately, De Wet addresses the question of if and to what extent the proliferation of military assistance on the request of a recognized government is changing the rules in international law applying to the use of force.

New Issue: Transnational Dispute Management

The latest issue of Transnational Dispute Management (2020, no. 3) is out. This is a special issue on "The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)." The table of contents is here.

New Issue: Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht

The latest issue of the Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Vol. 80, no. 1, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Abhandlungen
• Christoph Grabenwarter & Matti Pellonpää, “High Judicial Office” and “Jurisconsult of Recognised Competence”: Reflections on the Qualifications for Becoming a Judge at the Strasbourg Court
• Jan Klabbers, Governance by Academics: The Invention of Memoranda of Understanding
• Helmut Philipp Aust, Die Anerkennung von Regierungen: Völkerrechtliche Grundlagen und Grenzen im Lichte des Falls Venezuela
• Winfried Huck, Informal International Law-Making in the ASEAN: Consensus, Informality and Accountability
• Stellungnahmen und Berichte
• Gordon Goodman, The Ethics of War and the Law of the Sea
• Matthias Hartwig, Bericht zur völkerrechtlichen Praxis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im Jahr 2018
• 70 Years of the Indian Constitution
• Adeel Hussain, Theorizing Indian Democracy
• Rainer Grote, The Underestimated Relevance of the Indian Constitution for Comparative Constitutional Law Scholarship: A Review of the Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution

New Issue: Journal of International Economic Law

The latest issue of the Journal of International Economic Law (Vol. 23, no. 1, March 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Amrita Bahri & Monica Lugo, Trumping Capacity Gap with Negotiation Strategies: the Mexican USMCA Negotiation Experience
• Kathleen Claussen, Reimagining Trade-Plus Compliance: The Labor Story
• Geraldo Vidigal, A Really Big Button That Doesn’t Do Anything? The Anti-NME Clause in US Trade Agreements Between Law and Geoeconomics
• Regis Y Simo, Trade in Services in the African Continental Free Trade Area: Prospects, Challenges and WTO Compatibility
• Chien-Huei Wu, ASEAN at the Crossroads: Trap and Track between CPTPP and RCEP
• Tom S H Moerenhout, Energy Pricing Policies and the International Trade Regime
• Csongor István Nagy, Clash of Trade and National Public Interest in WTO Law: The Illusion of ‘Weighing and Balancing’ and the Theory of Reservation
• Jong Bum Kim, Cross-Cumulation Arrangement as FTA Under GATT Article XXIV
• Mira Burri & Rodrigo Polanco, Digital Trade Provisions in Preferential Trade Agreements: Introducing a New Dataset
• Ines Willemyns, Agreement Forthcoming? A Comparison of EU, US, and Chinese RTAs in Times of Plurilateral E-Commerce Negotiations
• Julien Chaisse & Jamieson Kirkwood, Chinese Puzzle: Anatomy of the (Invisible) Belt and Road Investment Treaty
• J Robert Basedow, The Achmea Judgment and the Applicability of the Energy Charter Treaty in Intra-EU Investment Arbitration

New Issue: Journal of Conflict Resolution

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution (Vol. 64, no. 5, May 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Brian C. Rathbun & Rachel Stein, Greater Goods: Morality and Attitudes toward the Use of Nuclear Weapons
• Daniel Masterson & M. Christian Lehmann, Refugees, Mobilization, and Humanitarian Aid: Evidence from the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon
• Chad Hazlett, Angry or Weary? How Violence Impacts Attitudes toward Peace among Darfurian Refugees
• Gaku Ito & Kaisa Hinkkainen Elliott, Battle Diffusion Matters: Examining the Impact of Microdynamics of Fighting on Conflict Termination
• Luke Abbs, Govinda Clayton, & Andrew Thomson, The Ties That Bind: Ethnicity, Pro-government Militia, and the Dynamics of Violence in Civil War
• James Meernik & Kimi King, The Security Consequences of Bearing Witness
• Brandon Ives & Jacob S. Lewis, From Rallies to Riots: Why Some Protests Become Violent
• Data Set Feature
• Vincent Arel-Bundock, Clint Peinhardt, & Amy Pond, Political Risk Insurance: A New Firm-level Data Set

Longobardo: The Relevance of the Concept of Due Diligence for International Humanitarian Law

Marco Longobardo (Univ. of Westminster - Law) has posted The Relevance of the Concept of Due Diligence for International Humanitarian Law (Wisconsin International Law Journal, Vol. 37, pp. 44-87, 2019). Here's the abstract:

This article explores the relevance of due diligence for international humanitarian law. The article identifies international humanitarian law rules requiring the application of due diligence and demonstrates that the use of the concept of due diligence in international humanitarian law strengthens some well-established ideas on due diligence in general international law. Finally, the article argues that the inclusion of some due diligence obligations in international humanitarian law furthers states’ implementation of this branch of law.

New Issue: Revista de Direito Internacional

The latest issue of Revista de Direito Internacional (Vol. 17, no. 1, 2020) is out. This is a special issue on "O direito comparado e seus protagonistas: qual uso, para qual fim, com quais métodos?" The table of contents is here.

New Issue: European Journal of International Relations

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Relations (Vol. 26, no. 1, March 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Steven Bernstein, The absence of great power responsibility in global environmental politics
• Jana Grittersová, Foreign banks and sovereign credit ratings: Reputational capital in sovereign debt markets
• Adam B. Lerner, The uses and abuses of victimhood nationalism in international politics
• Chenchen Zhang, Right-wing populism with Chinese characteristics? Identity, otherness and global imaginaries in debating world politics online
• Andrew Glencross, ‘Love Europe, hate the EU’: A genealogical inquiry into populists’ spatio-cultural critique of the European Union and its consequences
• Özgür Özdamar & Erdem Ceydilek, European populist radical right leaders’ foreign policy beliefs: An operational code analysis
• Tim Aistrope, Popular culture, the body and world politics
• Cian O’Driscoll, No substitute for victory? Why just war theorists can’t win
• Magnus Lundgren, Causal mechanisms in civil war mediation: Evidence from Syria
• Roos Haer, Christopher Michael Faulkner, & Beth Elise Whitaker, Rebel funding and child soldiers: Exploring the relationship between natural resources and forcible recruitment
• Vincenzo Bove, Mauricio Rivera, & Chiara Ruffa, Beyond coups: terrorism and military involvement in politics
• Ida Danewid, The fire this time: Grenfell, racial capitalism and the urbanisation of empire

New Issue: Review of International Organizations

The latest issue of the Review of International Organizations (Vol. 15, no. 2, April 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Lisa Maria Dellmuth & Jonas Tallberg, Why national and international legitimacy beliefs are linked: Social trust as an antecedent factor
• Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni, Death of international organizations. The organizational ecology of intergovernmental organizations, 1815–2015
• Takaaki Masaki & Bradley C. Parks, When do performance assessments influence policy behavior? Micro-evidence from the 2014 Reform Efforts Survey
• Ka Zeng, Karen Sebold, & Yue Lu, Global value chains and corporate lobbying for trade liberalization
• Tana Johnson & Johannes Urpelainen, The more things change, the more they stay the same: Developing countries’ unity at the nexus of trade and environmental policy
• Diana Panke, Regional cooperation through the lenses of states: Why do states nurture regional integration?
• Thomas Bernauer, Steffen Mohrenberg, & Vally Koubi, Do citizens evaluate international cooperation based on information about procedural and outcome quality?
• Christian Bjørnskov & Martin Rode, Regime types and regime change: A new dataset on democracy, coups, and political institutions

Ramcharan: A History of the UN Human Rights Programme and Secretariat

Bertrand G. Ramcharan has published A History of the UN Human Rights Programme and Secretariat (Brill | Nijhoff 2020). Here's the abstract:

This volume constitutes a valuable and unique history of the United Nations human rights programme and its secretariat. It offers interpretations of the history of the programme and its secretariat against the background of historical currents such as the Cold War, colonialism and decolonisation, and covers the seminal period during which the programme moved decisively towards human rights fact-finding and the denunciation of violations of human rights, which took place in the latter part of the 1970s and the 1980s. The author was a central player in this period, having served as the Special Assistant to three Directors of the Human Rights Division, and so provides historical materials that only he is aware of, having been at the heart of the action. He also provides snapshots of United Nations human rights leaders from the beginning of the United Nations, all of whom he knew personally, and writes about the contributions of NGOs and NGO leaders who served the cause of human rights with fortitude and determination.

d'Aspremont: International Law, Theory and History: Ordering Through Distinctions

Jean d'Aspremont (Sciences Po - Law; Univ. of Manchester - Law) has posted International Law, Theory and History: Ordering Through Distinctions (in The History and Theory of International Law, Jean d'Aspremont ed., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

A wide variety of mechanisms can potentially be used to order discourses. Distinctions are one of them. Indeed, distinctions are not only common modes of thinking. They are also powerful modes of ordering. Distinctions’ ordering does not solely boil down to a repression that demotes impermissible thoughts to the realm of the impossible, the metaphysical, or the magic. Distinctions also organize the critique of the order they put in place. This paper, which constitutes the introduction to two major resources volumes, focuses on two key distinctions at work in international legal thought and practice, namely the inter-disciplinary distinction between international law and history, as well as the intra-disciplinary distinction between theory and practice. This paper questions these distinctions in their own terms and seeks to project an alternative image to that shaped by the dominant inter-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary orders of international law. The alternative image promoted here is one of an international lawyer who, whether she is a judge, a counsel, an academic, or an activist, constantly theorizes and historicizes. According to such an image, theorizing and historicizing constitute the core business of international lawyers in the many capacities with which they intervene in the problems of the world.

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added two lectures to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law Podcast Channel. Due to current circumstances, the AVL team can post these only to the podcast channel and not the website. The lectures were given by Diane A. Desierto on "Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in International Investment Law" and Karine Bannelier-Christakis on "Enjeux du principe de due diligence dans la prévention et la réaction aux cyber-attaques."

Slocum & Wong: The Vienna Convention and the Ordinary Meaning of International Law

Brian G. Slocum (Univ. of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law) & Jarrod Wong (Univ. of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law) have posted The Vienna Convention and the Ordinary Meaning of International Law (Yale Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This Article offers the first sustained interdisciplinary critique of international law’s ordinary meaning standard. The Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties (VCLT) prominently mandates judicial interpretation of treaties “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.” While the conventional view is that the VCLT’s interpretive directive is “obvious” and largely unproblematic, it fails to adequately constrain judicial interpretive discretion. As well, the VCLT does not address fundamental interpretive issues such as indeterminate ordinary meaning and multiple language communities.

We argue that while the VCLT purports to mandate “ordinary meaning,” it in fact allows a different objective of interpretation known as “communicative meaning,” which we define as the meaning an appropriate hearer would most reasonably take a speaker to be trying to convey in employing a given verbal vehicle in the given communicative-context. Even with this understanding, though, the VCLT leaves judicial interpretive discretion unconstrained because it does not meaningfully restrict the allowable sources of meaning or how those sources can be used. Rather, the VCLT’s references to “context” and “purpose” lack sufficient guidance and permit courts to engage in speculative, unregulated inferences about purpose. Furthermore, the VCLT does not constrain judicial discretion regarding important interpretive issues such as whether implied meanings that transcend explicit treaty language should be recognized, even when those subject to the treaty come from different cultures and may speak English as a second language. Thus, while the ordinary meaning standard in the VCLT is a fundamental principle of international law, it falls short in its mission to provide coherent guidance to courts and tribunals engaged in the interpretation of treaties.

New Issue: Die Friedens-Warte

The latest issue of Die Friedens-Warte (Vol. 92, nos. 3-4, 2017-2019) is out. Contents include:

• Debatte
• Lothar Brock, Anna Geis, Sabine Jaberg, Hanne-Margret Birckenbach, Hans-Georg Ehrhart, Dan Krause, Michael Brzoska, Herbert Wulf, Michael Staack, Götz Neuneck, Alexander Graef, Jürgen Scheffran, & Tobias Ide, Mythen der etablierten Sicherheitspolitik
• Beiträge
• David Groten, Respektsensibilität als Grundvoraussetzung für Konfliktmanagement im Südchinesischen Meer
• Dilek Türközü, Two Sides of the Same Coin: Temporary Protection as a Practical but Unsettled Concept

Call for Submissions: Overlap between Bankruptcy/Insolvency Proceedings and Arbitrations

Transnational Dispute Management has issued a call for submissions on the topic "Overlap between Bankruptcy/Insolvency Proceedings and Arbitrations." The call is here.

New Issue: Revue Générale de Droit International Public

The latest issue of the Revue Générale de Droit International Public (Vol. 124, no. 1, 2020) is out. This issue is open access here. Contents include:

• Articles
• Pierre Michel Eisemann, Qu’est-ce qu’un rocher au sens de la Convention de Montego Bay de 1982 ? Observations sur la sentence arbitrale du 12 juillet 2016 relative à la mer de Chine méridionale
• Olivier Corten, François Dubuisson, Vaios Koutroulis, & Anne Lagerwall, L’exécution de Quassem Soleimani et ses suites : aspects de jus contra bellum et de jus in bello
• Note
• Denis Alland, Un adieu au droit international public ? A propos d’une déclaration américaine relative aux colonies israéliennes en Cisjordanie et ses suites

Call for Papers: When International Courts and Tribunals Defer to States

A call for papers has been issued for a PluriCourts-iCourts "Concepts & Methods" workshop on the topic "When International Courts and Tribunals Defer to States," to be held in Oslo on November 24-25, 2020. The call is here.