Material Breach and its Exception: An Analysis of a ‘Humanitarian Character’

Thanapat Chatinakrob explains the definition and the object and purpose of a material breach under Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties by exploring its development from the principle inadimplenti non est adimplendum to ‘fundamental’ and ‘material’ breaches. The article outlines the way material breach works in practise, including its scope, the kinds of breaches made and procedures to be followed, by analysing decisions by international courts and tribunals and the travaux preparatoire of the Vienna Conferences. The author provides an analysis of the exclusion of ‘humanitarian character’ to prevent the entitlement of Article 60, proposing some observations to treaties that might involve a humanitarian character, especially human rights treaties.