Judicial interpretation of international treaties: historiographic aspect

The key research question addressed in this article is the nature of the provisions on international treaties’ interpretation and their impact on the methods of legal interpretation. The author believes the interpretation of international treaties to be the primary task of international courts for which the interpretation of a legal norm will always precede its application. As contemporary legal theory analyses judicial activity through the lens of judicial discretion, it is important to determine the link between judicial discretion and interpretation. The article contains a retrospective analysis of the international treaties law development and the connected transformation of the legal interpretation methods. It is observed that, as the object and the personal and substantive scope of international treaties become more complex, the methods of their interpretation undergo transformation, a particularly significant stage in whose development is associated with the establishment of permanent international courts. Although methods of treaty interpretation have developed over centuries as rules of customary international law, it is the case law of international courts that has given them their definitive form. Particular importance is attached to the establishment of regional integration organizations and the development of their legal systems, both for the evolution of the law of international treaties and for the approaches to their interpretation. The foregoing serves as a basis for concluding that the topic under study is of particular relevance, the significance of which is further enhanced by the membership of the Russian Federation in an international organization of regional economic integration – the Eurasian Economic Union. The study concludes that the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties relating to treaty interpretation possess a customary law character. This research is based upon the principles of dialectical approach, general scientific and specialized research methods employed in the social sciences and humanities, as well as specific techniques and methods used in the study of the history of legal and political thought.