How to?: A Methodological Guide to Identify a Treaty’s Object and Purpose

None of the principles of treaty interpretation is so often invoked and at the same time so shrouded in mystery as the treaty’s object and purpose. Following the International Court of Justice, several scholars have tried to determine common (interpretive) principles to identify the object and purpose of a particular treaty. However, even the most “demystifying” accounts of treaty interpretation have not been able to clarify the concept. The few accounts that did try to identify such principles arrived back at the start of their journey, replacing veils rather than removing them. The result is the now widely accepted and proclaimed yet circular proposition that “the object and purpose of a treaty (provision) is determined in light of all its provisions as a whole”. This article identifies some clear(er) principles, which can be used by academics and practitioners. It argues that the concept is less open-ended than commonly assumed.