Also known as: Vienna Conventions · VCLT · VCDR · Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
2 senses
A multilateral treaty that sets forth rules governing consular relations between states. It includes provisions requiring authorities to notify detained foreign nationals of their right to contact their home consulate.
A multilateral treaty that sets forth rules governing consular relations between states. It includes provisions requiring authorities to notify detained foreign nationals of their right to contact their home consulate.
A self-executing treaty that supplies uniform substantive rules for contracts involving the international sale of goods between private parties in adopting states.
2 common questions
It supplies substantive rules for contracts for the international sale of goods between private parties, excluding consumer sales and certain other transactions.
A self-executing treaty that supplies uniform substantive rules for contracts involving the international sale of goods between private parties in adopting states.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Viktor Voronin, a Mexican national, was convicted in state court without being informed of his right to contact the Mexican consulate. After an international ruling found a violation, the President issued a memorandum directing state courts to reopen the case. Because the treaty lacks implementing legislation, the memorandum has no domestic legal effect and the state court properly refuses to reopen the proceeding.
Viktor Voronin, a Mexican national, was arrested in Texas and not told he could contact his consulate. State officials later conceded the Vienna Convention violation. Because the treaty is non-self-executing, the state court refused to grant relief absent congressional implementation.
Timothy Abbott, a British citizen, and Jacquelyn Abbott, a United States citizen, married in England in 1992. Their son A. J. A. was born in Hawaii in 1995 after the couple moved there for Mr. Abbott’s astronomy work. The family relocated to La Serena, Chile, in 2002, where marital discord led to separation in March 2003. Chilean courts granted the mother daily care and control of A. J. A. while awarding the father direct and regular visitation rights, including every other weekend and the full month of February each year. Under Minors Law 16,618, article 49, Chilean law conferred a ne exeat right on the father requiring his authorization before the child could leave the country. The mother obtained a ne exeat order from the Chilean family court prohibiting removal of the boy. In August 2005, while proceedings remained pending before the Chilean court, the mother removed A. J. A. from Chile to Texas without permission from the father or the court. A private investigator later located the mother and child in Texas. The mother filed for divorce in Texas state court in February 2006, seeking modification of the father’s rights including sole authority over the child’s residence. Mr. Abbott filed an action in Texas state court requesting visitation and an order to show cause why the child should not return to Chile. The state court denied return but granted liberal visitation periods in Texas during February 2006. In May 2006, Mr. Abbott filed suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas under the Hague Convention and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act seeking the child’s return to Chile. After a bench trial at which only Mr. Abbott testified, the District Court denied relief in July 2007. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed on the same rationale. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a conflict among the circuits on the status of ne exeat rights.
View case2 common questions
No. The treaty is non-self-executing. It therefore lacks domestic legal effect as supreme law absent implementing legislation from Congress.
Supporting sources
No. The President has no independent constitutional authority to give a non-self-executing treaty domestic effect by directing state compliance.
Supporting sources
Yes. The United States ratified it as a self-executing treaty that now applies directly in the courts of adopting states.
…of the intersection of the travel restriction in Article 49 of its Minors Law 16,618 and the Convention. : See Art. 32, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, May 23, 1969, 1155 U. N. T. S. 331, 340 (“Recourse may be had to supplementary means of interpretation . . . when the interpretation . . . (a) leaves the meaning ambiguous or obscure; or…