LAW 1055: Treaties and Negotiations
Spring 2020 • Section 21 • CRN 31290

Course Description

Treaties have long served as one of the several sources of international law. Increasingly, they have come to serve as the dominant source. They now regulate almost every aspect of international affairs, from bilateral, one-time deals between States (e.g., transferring property) to multilateral agreements that aspire to law-like status (e.g., prohibiting genocide). Treaties, are, moreover, invariably the product of negotiation by individuals representing another entity, most often a nation State. Thus, treaties provide a fulcrum for understanding negotiations by agents in an increasingly complex world. This course intensively studies treaties and the negotiations on which they rest from three perspectives. First, students will consider the treaty in terms of international law, including what a treaty "is", how they're made and the various associated rules, most notably those in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Second, students will study the treaty's "other life," looking at their domestic role in the U.S. legal order, from the constitutional rationales for treaty-making to the various separation of powers, federalism, and judicial questions treaties trigger. Third, the class will use practical exercises to explore treaty negotiations, including a major, day-long multiparty international environmental meetings among nation States and other stakeholders.

Book List/Materials