"If a treaty from the 1850s regulating "commerce" or forbidding "degrading treatment of persons" is to be interpreted 150 years later, does "commerce" or "degrading treatment of persons" have the same meaning at the time of interpretation as they had when the treaty was agreed? …
"The persistent objector rule is said to provide states with an 'escape hatch' from the otherwise universal binding force of customary international law. It provides that if a state persistently objects to a newly emerging norm of customary international law during the formation…
Focusing on how states have utilized the persistent objector rule in practice, this volume details how the rule emerged and operates, how it should be conceptualised, and what its implications are for the binding nature of customary international law.
