Article 42: Validity And Continuance In Force Of Treaties
In: Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of TreatiesSearch for other papers by M.E. Villiger in
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Abstract
The termination of a treaty, its denunciation or the withdrawal of a party, may take place only as a result of the application of the provisions of the treaty or of the present Convention. The same rule applies to suspension of the operation of a treaty. Waldock Report II of 1963 formulated the nucleus of Article 42. It concerns the validity and continuance in force of treaties. It excludes all means of ending a treaty, which are not mentioned in Part V of the Convention. The strengths of Article 42 lies in the provision ostracises unilateral assertions of invalidity and the termination of a treaty and provides for a distribution of proof - a presumption as to what may be claimed by which State when it is argued that a treaty has come to its end. It introduces a systematic order into the provisions of the Convention as a whole.