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41 Yale J. Int'l L. 237 (2016)
Change without Consent: How Customary International Law Modifies Treaties

handle is hein.journals/yjil41 and id is 269 raw text is: 











Article




Change Without Consent: How Customary

International Law Modifies Treaties



                                   Rebecca   Crootoft


IN T R O D U C T IO N ........................................................................................................................................2 3 8

I.   A NEW INTERNATIONAL  LEGAL ORDER......................................................................................... 241
       A .   T he C lassic  A ccount....................................................................................................... 242
             1.    Stable Customary International Law .................................................................. 242
             2.    F lexible T reaties  ................................................................................................. 242
       B .   T he M odem W orld ......................................................................................................... 243
             1.    C onstitutive  T reaties  ........................................................................................... 243
             2.    Contemporary Customary International Law ..................................................... 245

II.  M ODIFICATION     BY  M UTUAL    CONSENT     ......................................................................................... 247
       A .   Form al A m endm ent ........................................................................................................ 248
       B.    Treaty Supersession and Additional Protocols............................................................... 250
       C .   A daptive Interpretation  ................................................................................................... 252
             1.    Living Treaties and Teleological Interpretation..............................................252
             2.    The Im portance of the  A udience  ........................................................................ 255
             3.    When  State Party Conduct Becomes Subsequent Practice................................. 256
             4.    When  Interpretation Becomes Modification....................................................... 259

1II.  MODIFICATION  BY SUBSEQUENTLY  DEVELOPED  CUSTOMARY  INTERNATIONAL  LAW............... 264
       A.    When  Customary International Law Alters Treaty Obligations..................................... 264
             1.    The Possibility of Automatic Treaty Termination.............................................. 265
             2.    Reducing States Parties' O  bligations.................................................................. 269
             3.    Increasing States Parties' O  bligations  ................................................................ 272
             4.    A  C om plex R elationship..................................................................................... 275
             5.     Addressing an Alternative Characterization....................................................... 276
       B .   D octrinal A rgum  ents...................................................................................................... 277
             1.     C onsent T heory  ................................................................................................... 277
             2.     A B attle  of  N orm s............................................................................................... 279
             3.     Arguments Grounded in the Vienna Convention ............................................... 279
                    i. The  Im/possibility of Modification by Subsequently Developed
                          Custom ary International Law    .................................................................280
                    ii. Interpretation in Light of Customary International Law ................................ 282
                    iii. A Fundamental Change in Circumstances .................................................... 283


       t    Executive Director of the Information Society Project, ISP Research Scholar, and Lecturer
 in Law at Yale Law School. Thanks are due to Dapo Akande, Mahnoush Arsanjani, Jack Balkin, Doug
 Bernstein, Molly Brady, Jay Butler, Oona Hathaway, Joanna Langille, Ryan Liss, Robert Post, Michael
 Reisman, Reva Siegel, Brian Soucek, John Witt, and my Ph.D. cohort for their insightful contributions.
 Thanks especially to Lea Brilmayer for her thoughtful critiques and constant encouragement. This
 Article also benefited greatly from participants' commentary at the Yale Law School 2014 Doctoral
 Scholarship Conference and from excellent editorial suggestions from Joshua Handelsman and Marian
 Messing.

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