Abstract

Articles adopted by the International Law Commission are often referred to in the jurisprudence of arbitral and judicial bodies, especially in that of the International Court of Justice. Although they are often given weight for ascertaining rules of general international law, no methodology has yet been developed for their interpretation. For that purpose, the rules on the interpretation of treaties are of limited use, even if the articles may eventually be incorporated in the text of a treaty. One important issue concerns the relation between the text of the articles and their commentaries. This issue has to be resolved taking into account the function given to the commentaries and the manner in which articles and commentaries are adopted by the Commission.

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