Peter Allan Memorial Lecture: On Meaning – Musings on Treaty Interpretation

Date & Time: October 29, 2024 (Tuesday) 18:30 – 19:30 (HKT)
Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong
(In-person event)

Abstract：

The idea that rules of treaty interpretation can guide us to the meaning of treaty provisions, in a simple and straightforward manner, is nothing other than a myth to be dispelled or a delusion to be exposed. The activity of treaty interpretation is a much more complex and nuanced process than the traditional representation that international lawyers make of it. This lecture aims to capture some of the fundamental traits of these processes and to spur further reflection about the modalities by which treaty interpretation takes place. Concepts, categories, and insights are imported into the reflection on treaty interpretation from other branches of knowledge, with a view to better understanding the activities we undertake when we engage in legal interpretation.

Speaker：

Andrea Bianchi has been a Full Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva since 2002. He is the author and/or editor of: Demystifying Treaty Interpretation (co-authored with Fuad Zarbiev, Cambridge University Press, 2024); International Law’s Invisible Frames – Social Cognition and Knowledge Production in International Legal Processes (co-edited with Moshe Hirsch, Oxford University Press, 2021); Interpretation in International Law (co-edited with Dan Peat and Matt Windsor; Oxford University Press, 2015); Transparency in International Law (co-edited with Anne Peters; Cambridge University Press, 2013); and of a trilogy of books on terrorism for Hart Publishing, which are Enforcing International Law Norms against Terrorism (2004), Counterterrorism: Democracy’s Challenge, (co-edited with Alexis Keller) (2008), and International Law and Terrorism (co-authored with Yasmin Naqvi) (2011). He has also edited the following research collections: Theory and Philosophy of International Law (Edward Elgar 2017); and Non-State Actors in International Law (Ashgate, 2009). His monograph entitled International Law Theories: An Inquiry into Different Ways of Thinking was published in November 2016 by Oxford University Press, and it has been translated into French and Spanish in 2023, with Japanese and Korean translations coming out in 2024.

Chair:
James Fry is an Associate Professor of Faculty of Law at The University of Hong Kong.

This is an in-person only event for the audience. Prior registration is required. Please visit https://bit.ly/3Y20YQJ to register. For inquiries, please email Louisa Chu at .