국제법상 시제법의 개념과 시제 문제의 재론

This article explores the concept of intertemporal law, which is often mentioned in the context of international law, but its definition remains unclear. The first issue to examine in this article is to analyze the original meaning of intertemporal law within the context of international arbitration in the Island of Palmas case in comparison with the contemporary prevailing understanding of it by international courts and tribunals. Next, this article identifies different interpretative approaches to intertemporal problems in international treaties by acknowledging intertemporal law related issues arise primarily in interpreting international treaties. By addressing these issues, I want to present that the question of intertemporal law in international law has been mainly the question of treaty interpretation although the so-called intertemporal law arose in international arbitration of territorial disputes. The debates of treaty interpretation on intertemporal problem, therefore, are a competition between the meaning of the terms of a treaty at the conclusion of the treaty and the meaning of the treaty at the application of the treaty. Depending on whether the former gravity or the latter lift prevails, certain terms may be forced to remain static or allowed to evolve. Also, there are a variety of a interpretative method to treaty reflecting the development of international law. Through these multi-level analyses, this article suggests that evolutive interpretation following the development of the law could achieve its goals based on the good reason of its justification and the proper methods.