Supreme Law of the Land?

Debating the Contemporary Effects of Treaties within the United States Legal System

Gregory H. Fox, Paul R. Dubinsky, Brad R. Roth

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781107066601
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108546423
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: International Law
• Index: Law

How do treaties function in the American legal system? This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the current status of treaties in American law. Its ten chapters examine major areas of change in treaty law in recent decades, including treaty interpretation, federalism, self-execution, treaty implementing legislation, treaty form, and judicial barriers to treaty enforcement. The book also includes two in-depth case studies: one on the effectiveness of treaties in the regulation of armed conflict and one on the role of a resurgent federalism in complicating US efforts to ratify and implement treaties in private international law. Each chapter asks whether the treaty rules of the 1987 Third Restatement of Foreign Relations Law accurately reflect today's judicial, executive, and legislative practices. This volume is original and provocative, a useful desk companion for judges and practicing lawyers, and an engaging read for the general reader and graduate students.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Treaties in U.S. Law from the Founding to the Restatement (Third)
• 2 Treaties in the Third Restatement
• 3 Competing Models for Treaty Interpretation: Treaty as Contract, Treaty as Statute, Treaty as Delegation
• 4 Self-Execution
• 5 Treaties, Federalism, and the Contested Legacy of Missouri v. Holland
• 6 Recent Trends in U.S. Treaty Implementation
• 7 The Treaty and Its Rivals: Making International Agreements in U.S. Law and Practice
• 8 Judicial Barriers to the Enforcement of Treaties
• 9 Case Study No. 1: Exploring U.S. Treaty Practice through a Military Lens
• 10 Case Study No. 2: Private Law Treaties and Federalism: Can the United States Lead?
• Conclusion: Treaties as the Law of the Land: Change and Continuity
• Index