6 - What’s the Purpose of ‘Object and Purpose’?

Summary

How does one ascertain the object and purpose of a treaty? Can a treaty have more than one object and purpose? What does giving effect to the object and purpose of a treaty mean in practice? Despite such fundamental uncertainties surrounding them, the ‘object and purpose’ are widely resorted to in the practice of treaty interpretation. This chapter argues that the object and purpose doctrine is coextensive with a large amount of interpretive discretion. The identification of the object and purpose of a treaty a largely indeterminate process, and the assumption that the treaty makers necessarily want the object and purpose of their treaty to be implemented under all circumstances leaves the treaty interpreter with considerable normative power that can hardly be resisted given the very terms of the assumption. The chapter argues that consideration of the finality of a treaty cannot be an exercise in abstract logic, but meet the requirements of practical reason.