The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties governs how states make treaties among themselves. It is “lawyers’ law,” that is, it is not concerned with the substance of obligations among states, but with how states enter into those obligations. It applies only among states. The Convention puts in treaty form rules previously observed by customary international law. It enhances legal certainty in a world that increasingly looks to written treaties to govern international relations. As such, it provides an important foundation for the promotion and enforcement of global justice.
The Convention is concerned principally with issues of treaty formation and interpretation. It governs such matters as who may represent a state, how a state consents to be bound, treaty “reservations,” entry into force, application of treaties in time and in geographic space, third party states, treaty modification, state succession invalidity, termination, and procedures for the foregoing.
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Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Done at Vienna on 23 May 1969. Entered into force on 27 January 1980 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol 1155, p 331
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Maxeiner, J.R. (2011). Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_665
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