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World Court Digest



I. Substantive International Law - First Part
7. LAW OF TREATIES
7.8. Interpretation

¤ Elettronica Sicula S.p.A. (ELSI)
Judgment of 20 July 1989
I.C.J. Reports 1989, p. 15

[p. 97 D.O. Schwebel] In the current case, the Parties attached radically different interpretations to the provisions of the Treaty and its Supplementary Agreement which were at issue between them. It is undeniable that, when their conflicting arguments are matched together, the meaning of some of the Treaty's provisions are ambiguous or obscure; indeed, each of the Parties maintained that the opposing interpretation led to results which, if not manifestly absurd, were unreasonable. Thus, according to the Vienna Convention, this is a case in which recourse to the preparatory work and circumstances of the Treaty's conclusion was eminently in order.