Event Details

Dr Daniel Costelloe will speak on 'Territorial Application of Treaties: Beyond de jure Territory'.

This talk will explore the distinction between de jure territory and “de facto” territory in connection with the territorial application of a treaty, both in accordance with the treaty’s provisions and under general international law. Among other things, the talk will examine whether or under what circumstances the territorial application of a treaty can extend to annexed or occupied territory. The law of treaties, the law of State succession and the law of occupation are all potentially relevant to this question, which arises with greater frequency in practice as territory is occupied or annexed for long periods of time. In certain cases, a treaty may apply extraterritorially as a result of its object and purpose or as a result of its provisions. Moreover, as certain recent decisions have shown, a State may even be precluded from denying the applicability of a treaty in annexed or occupied territory even where prima facie it does not apply extraterritorially.

Daniel Costelloe is a counsel in the International Arbitration Group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where his practice focuses on international disputes and public international law.