Error in International Agreements
![handle is hein.journals/nordic50 and id is 60 raw text is: ERROR IN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
By Halldor J]n Kristansson, Cand. Jur., University of Iceland, L.L.M.
(in international legal studies), New York University
I. INTRODUCTION
Recorded instances in which errors of substance have been invoked as affecting the
essential validity of a treaty are few, and almost all of them concern geographical
errors. The following illustrations of such errors were cited by the Harvard Law
School research group on the law of treaties in their draft (The Harvard Draft): (1)
The Treaty of August 5th, 1772, between Russia and Austria for the first partition
of Poland and the treaty of cession of September 18, 1773, between Poland and
Austria, both provided that the new frontier of Poland should follow a petty stream,
which was later found to have no existence. (2) The Treaty of September 3rd, 1783,
between the U.K. and U.S. referred to the Northwest angle of Nova Scotia as being
formed by a line drawn due North from the source of the St. Croix river. The map
used by the negotiators correctly represented the existence of a river, but it did not
designate its true course or position, nor was there any river in the region commonly
known by that name. (3) The Treaty of February 22nd, 1819, between the United
States and Spain described the United States frontier (West of the Mississippi River)
as following in part the Rio Rote westward to 100th degree of longitude as laid down
in Melish's map published in Philadelphia in 1818. This map, however, located the
100th meridian far east of its true site.1
The above instances have one thing in common; the source of error was insufficient
geographical knowledge. With more extensive geographical knowledge such errors are
likely to be eliminated, thereby deleting the major source of error in international
agreements. Considering, furthermore, that the whole process of treaty making is
very deliberate and subject to numerous checks, the chance of error in international
agreements becomes rather remote. That errors in international agreements are unlike-
ly to occur does not, however, render all discussion of it obsolete. The special reporter
on the Law of Treaties, Mr. Fitzmaurice, stated in his third report to the I.L.C.:
Even if certain situations occur but seldom, international law can not entirely
neglect to provide for them. There are clearly dangers in failing to define con-
cepts which if left undefined might be made the basis of process that could be
detrimental to the stability and certainty of treaty obligations.2
Mr. Fitzmaurice included in his draft proposal the possibility of invoking error as
1. Harward Law School, Research in International Law, Part III, Law of Treaties, 29
A.J.I.L. (Suppl.) 1935 p. 1127-1128.
2. I.LC. Yearbook 1958, Vol. II, p. 22.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/nordic50&div=9&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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