How Interpretation Makes International Law

On Semantic Change and Normative Twists

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Courts, International
Cover of the book How Interpretation Makes International Law by Ingo Venzke, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ingo Venzke ISBN: 9780191631962
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: September 6, 2012
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: Ingo Venzke
ISBN: 9780191631962
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: September 6, 2012
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

Challenging the classic narrative that sovereign states make the law that constrains them, this book argues that treaties and other sources of international law form only the starting point of legal authority. Interpretation can shift the meaning of texts and, in its own way, make law. In the practice of interpretation actors debate the meaning of the written and customary laws, and so contribute to the making of new law. In such cases it is the actor's semantic authority that is key - the capacity for their interpretation to be accepted and become established as new reference points for legal discourse. The book identifies the practice of interpretation as a significant space for international lawmaking, using the key examples of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Appellate Body of the WTO to show how international institutions are able to shape and develop their constituent instruments by adding layers of interpretation, and moving the terms of discourse. The book applies developments in linguistics to the practice of international legal interpretation, building on semantic pragmatism to overcome traditional explanations of lawmaking and to offer a fresh account of how the practice of interpretation makes international law. It discusses the normative implications that arise from viewing interpretation in this light, and the implications that the importance of semantic changes has for understanding the development of international law. The book tests the potential of international law and its doctrine to respond to semantic change, and ultimately ponders how semantic authority can be justified democratically in a normative pluriverse.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Challenging the classic narrative that sovereign states make the law that constrains them, this book argues that treaties and other sources of international law form only the starting point of legal authority. Interpretation can shift the meaning of texts and, in its own way, make law. In the practice of interpretation actors debate the meaning of the written and customary laws, and so contribute to the making of new law. In such cases it is the actor's semantic authority that is key - the capacity for their interpretation to be accepted and become established as new reference points for legal discourse. The book identifies the practice of interpretation as a significant space for international lawmaking, using the key examples of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Appellate Body of the WTO to show how international institutions are able to shape and develop their constituent instruments by adding layers of interpretation, and moving the terms of discourse. The book applies developments in linguistics to the practice of international legal interpretation, building on semantic pragmatism to overcome traditional explanations of lawmaking and to offer a fresh account of how the practice of interpretation makes international law. It discusses the normative implications that arise from viewing interpretation in this light, and the implications that the importance of semantic changes has for understanding the development of international law. The book tests the potential of international law and its doctrine to respond to semantic change, and ultimately ponders how semantic authority can be justified democratically in a normative pluriverse.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book Behavioural Economics: A Very Short Introduction by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book The Question of Competence in the European Union by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book Securities and Capital Markets Law in China by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book The Audit Society by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book Stealing Home by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Institutional Analysis by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of British Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book Prehistory: A Very Short Introduction by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book The Void by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book The Letters of Psellos by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book W.B. Yeats and the Muses by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book Navigating the New Retail Landscape by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book A Woman's Disease by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book Visual Aspects of Dyslexia by Ingo Venzke
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics by Ingo Venzke
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy