Karvatska S. The interpretation of international law: theoretical and practical aspects

The thesis is devoted to the analysis of theoretical and practical aspects of the interpretation of international law, the differentiation between broad and narrow meanings of scientific concept "the interpretation of international law," the research on the subject of interpretation of treaties and interpretation of international law by international organizations, clarification of problematic aspects of international customary law interpretation and exploration of peculiarities of the interpretation of treaties by international judicial bodies – the International Court of Justice (the ICJ) and the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR), and also to crucial problems of application and interpretation of international law by the courts of Ukraine. It is established that the interpretation of an international treaty is a process that seeks to establish the exact content of an international treaty by defining its normative nature via giving due weight to conflicting terms (provisions) to be applied in an international dispute, based on the rules of interpretation provided by the ICC or elaborated by jurisprudence. It is substantiated that the interpretive model of legal cognition of international law is a model that represents a direct comprehension of the international legal realm throughout the process of finding the right language for the interpretation of its meaning and a shared understanding of such meaning. It is determined that treaty interpretation is a process carried out by means of international legal proceedings aimed at establishing the genuine content of a treaty by defining its normative nature through giving a due meaning to the conflicting terms (provisions) to be applied in an international dispute, based on the rules of interpretation, envisaged by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (the VCLT) and developed by international judicial practice. The role of travaux préparatoires in the interpretative activities of the ICJ, primarily used to clarify the purpose of the treaty, ordinary meaning, and real and foreseeable intentions, especially in the historical context, is clarified on the basis of a comprehensive case analysis.