Termination of Treaties

PREFACE

As a result of President Carter's December 15, 1978 announcement concerning recognition of the People's Republic of China and termination of the treaty with the Republic of China, increased attention has focused on the question of whether the President may terminate a treaty by himself or whether the participation of the Senate or the Congress is required. The Committee has compiled a set of documents bearing upon these subjects which, I believe, the Senate will find useful in considering these matters. I should make clear that none of these documents necessarily reflects the views of the Committee or of any of its Members.

CONTENTS

Preface...

List of withdrawals from bilateral treaties and other international agree-

ments, through August 1977, compiled by the Department of State...

List of withdrawals from multilateral treaties and other international agree-
ments, through August 1977, compiled by the Department of State__

Foreign Relations Law of the United States, Restatement of the Law

(Second), as adopted and promulgated by the American Law Institute at

Washington, D.C., May 26, 1962...

Denunciation of the Warsaw Convention, Department of State press

release of November 15, 1965__.

Withdrawal From the International Convention for the Northwest Atlantic

Fisheries, Department of State press release of January 1, 1977.

"Abrogating Treaties," by Barry Goldwater, New York Times, October 11,

1977, p. 37, and subsequent letter to the editor....

"Normal Ties With China," by Jerome Alan Cohen, New York Times,

May 21, 1978, p. 21, and subsequent letter to the editor...

"On the Termination of a U.S. Treaty," Andreas F. Lowenfeld, letter to

the New York Times, May 28, 1978-

"The Treaty Nullifiers," Joseph M. Siracusa, letter to the New York Times,

June 27, 1978_.

"Who Is Empowered To Terminate a Treaty?" Congressional Research

Service memorandum, 124 Congressional Record, H. 11400, October 20,

1977.

"Precedents for U.S. Abrogation of Treaties," Congressional Research
Service memorandum, February 25, 1974-

"Normalization of Relations With the PRC: Practical Implications," ex-

cerpts from hearings before the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific

Affairs of the House Committee on International Relations, 95th Con-

gress, 1st session, September and October, 1977 (pp. 79-134)

"De-Recognizing Taiwan: The Legal Problems," by Victor H. Li (Carnegie

Endowment for International Peace, 1977).

"China and the Abrogation of Treaties," by Barry Goldwater, Critical

Issues (the Heritage Foundation, 1978).

"Unilateral Denunciation of Treaty Because of Prior Violation of Obliga-

tions by Other Party," by Bhek Pati Sinha, excerpts (Mortimus Nijhofl,

The Hague, 1966).

"Termination of Treaties," 35 Michigan Law Review 88 (1936) –
"Presidential Amendment and Termination of Treaties: The Case of the
Warsaw Convention," 34 University of Chicago Law Review No. 3 (1967)-

"Congressional Power To Abrogate the Domestic Effect of a United Nations

Treaty Commitment: Diggs v. Schultz, 13 Columbia Journal of Trans-

national Law No. 1 (1974).

117

145

"The Power of Congress and the President in International Relations:
Three Recent Supreme Court Decisions," by Stefan Riesenfeld, 25 Cal-
ifornia Law Review No. 6 (September 1937).

"Termination of Treaties by the Executive Without Congressional Appro-

243

val: The Case of the Warsaw Convention," by John H. Riggs, Jr., 32

Journal of Air Law and Commerce No. 4 (Autumn 1966)--

"The Termination of Treaties and Executive Agreements by the United

States: Theory and Practice," by Randall H. Nelson, 42 Minnesota Law

Review No. 5 (April 1958)---

260

268

"Normalizing Relations With the PRC," by Jerome Alan Cohen, Vol. 64,

American Bar Association Journal (July 1978)..

290