Book Review (Spotlight Weekly)

Bhimarjun Acharya, Advocate

“Interpretation of Treaties, Law and Practice”

By Dr Ravi Sharma Aryal

Deep and Deep Publications Pvt. Ltd, India
Price IC Rs. 280

Dr. Ravi Sharma Aryal is a prolific writer, and has to his credit several articles and published works. The commendable part of his academic pursuit is that he writes on broader range of subjects from conservation to governance, from pure legal issues to general themes of layman’s interest. Dr. Aryal has, of late, stirred the hornet’s nest by writing about the issues of public interest, talking to media and raising issues in public forum on the depleting and endangered flora and fauna attributing this situation to the official lethargy and laxity.

This book authored by Dr Aryal is very important in many aspects. This work deals with an important subject of law that is the law and practice of interpreting international treaties. The book begins with defining treaty based on authoritative texts of international law. Like a contract, a treaty is a legal transaction by which the contracting parties intend to establish mutual obligations and rights.

Treaties are specific source of an obligation of international law voluntarily undertaken by one international person towards other or others, giving rise to reciprocal rights in that other or those others. The book talks at length about the importance of treaty interpretation. The fundamental objective of treaty interpretation is to discover just what the parties to a treaty understood the agreement to mean when they entered into it. The important chapter of the book is dedicated to the approaches of the treaty interpretation. The three approaches –subjective, textual and teleological- of treaty interpretation are discussed in a very detailed manner. The tools of treaty interpretation discussed in the book are very important and useful.

There is a separate chapter in the book dealing with rules regarding treaty interpretation. The book derives from Vienna Convention that codifies authoritatively the rules of treaty interpretation and mentions among others “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.” The book culls from court precedents and authoritative texts to enrich contents.

Though the resourcefulness of the book is exemplified by annexure that includes several important texts on the law of treaties such as Vienna Convention on the law of treaties, 1969, Vienna Convention on the law of treaties between states and international organizations or between international organizations, 1986 and the Nepal Treaty Act 1990. Readers may feel a bit bored since the annexure part of the book is lengthier than the original text.

Despite some computer errors and omission, the book is very useful for law teachers, law academics, judges and students alike.