Abstract
It is the first book in China as a systematic study on the legal theories and practices of treaty interpretation from the perspective of international law，which includes the volume one（chapters Ⅰ-Ⅶ）and the volume two（chapters Ⅷ-Ⅻ）．The first part of the book as an introduction includes the chapter I to describe the current studies of international law on treaty interpretation in order to provide the academic basis of this book，while overviewing the practices of treaty interpretation of international courts and tribunals in last one hundred years so as to set the factual background for the chapter Ⅱ on discussion of general issues of international law about treaty interpretation．The chapters from Ⅲ to Ⅶ of the second part focus on representatives' theories of treaty interpretation such as the theory of Grotius，the founder of modern international law in early 17th century，the theory of Vattel，the leading scholar of Grotius School form middle 18th century to late 19th century，the theories based on the 1935 Harvard Draft of Convention on Law of Treaty and the clauses of treaty interpretation of 1969 Vienna Convention on Law of Treaty and commentaries，as well as the recent books on treaty interpretation abroad and the special reports on treaty interpretation by the International Law Commission of United Nations，and also discuss the involved cases from the ancient Greece and Rome to nowadays intending to make a real history of theories and practices in respect of treaty interpretation．The chapters from Ⅷ to Ⅺ of the third part with the methodology of case analysis on jurisprudences of international courts and tribunals as the guideline，select the more than one hundred cases including 40 cases on general international law and law of sea from the International Court of Justice，the Permanent Court of Arbitration and International Tribunal of Law of Sea，36 cases on international trade law from the Appellate Body of Dispute Settlement of World Trade Organization，31 cases on international investment law from International Centre for Settlement of Investment Dispute and other institutions of investment arbitration，28 cases on human rights and humanitarian law from European Court of Human Right，Inter-American Court of Human Right and the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals under the United Nations，which apply the customary rules of international law or other rules of treaty interpretation．The final chapter of the book analyzes 18 cases with China as parties of contentious cases or participants of advisory proceedings with some highlights for future．This book pursues the combination of theories and practices with the novel academic system，sufficient references，critical comments and the new ideas of study．It is useful for scholars and practitioners on peaceful settlement of international disputes，and for public to understand the basic knowledge of international law about treaty interpretation.