Is Characterization of Treaties a Solution to Treaty Conflicts?

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) rules on the resolution of treaty conflicts are known as being despondently unhelpful. One identified lacuna is that these rules disregard many differences present in different kinds of treaties. This paper characterizes treaties on the basis of their differences and investigates whether this yields legal rules to resolve treaty conflicts. This paper presents three broad characterizations founded on: the subject matter; the number of State Parties; and the intended objects and purposes of treaties. Respecting the intended objects and purposes, this paper presents three sub-characterizations, namely: universal character treaties; constitutional character treaties; and treaties with conflict resolution clauses. The results are variegated, but the discussions expose the mythic role of treaty characterization in the resolution of treaty conflicts