Determining Indeterminacy: Plurilingual Treaty Interpretation Under Article 33 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

Daniella Martino*

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) makes a claim of certainty that is inconsistent with the reality of indeterminacy in the international legal order. The interpretation of plurilingual treaties presents particular challenges that Article 33 of the VCLT purports to address. Historical practice and the drafting decisions leading to the Article’s construction demonstrate how the resulting interpretive rule provides a mere veneer of certainty through its insistence on unity of text, instituted through the presumption of equality in Article 33(1) and the presumption of same meaning in Article 33(3). Behind this screen, however, the Article endows interpreters with discretion to make holistic judgments tailored to the circumstances and to resolve the inherent indeterminacy of multiple linguistic versions according to underlying normative values like legitimacy. The Preliminary Objections in Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia) serves as a case study to show how the rebuttal of the presumption of same meaning by litigants operates as an argumentative tool. The LaGrand case demonstrates how the ICJ has applied Article 33 as a mechanism for instituting its own legitimacy. Outside of adjudication, the interpretive rule provides a framework for common dialogue to resolve interpretive disagreement, but the flexible methods advantageous for neutral arbiters make cooperation among parties with divergent viewpoints difficult. Although challenging to reconcile, the multiplicity of linguistic versions can serve as a beneficial mechanism for resolving international, multilingual disputes by prescribing a possible approach to overcoming inevitable indeterminacy.

*J.D. Candidate Columbia Law School, 2024. Thank you to Professor Monica Hakimi for her guidance and support throughout the Note writing process as well as to the members of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law for their dedication, time, and feedback.