Articles

• Gillespie, Alexander

Abstract

Reservations to international treaties represent one of the most difficult areas to negotiate through in international law. The difficulties with reservations lie in their legal applicability and the political implications that reservations create for the subsequent utilization of the treaty and its members. The full extent of these difficulties has recently been displayed in the International Whaling Commission. In this instance, although the reservation was ultimately successful, a certain amount of integrity was retained by the Commission as it ultimately controlled the process and the overall decision was not dictated to the Commission on a bilateral basis.