The Termination of Treaties: To the Origins of the Formation

Over a long historical period of development, the institution of the termination of treaties has reached a high degree of maturity. Many of the norms that form it, having arisen in the treaty practice of states in antiquity, not only reflected the needs of their era, but gradually, passing from generation to generation, have transformed. Some of them have become part of the modern system of international law, having been enshrined in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969). Since ancient times, treaties have been terminated as a result of armed conflicts between states. The punishments for non-compliance with obligations envisaged by ancient treaties, as well as the religious oath designed to serve as a guarantee of their observance, were an expression of the idea of the inviolability of treaties. At the same time, the possibility of their termination was provided for as a result of violation of the fixed conditions. The main reason for the termination of treaties of the feudal period, as in antiquity, was wars. At the end of the 18th — beginning of the 19th century the agreements began to include provisions regulating their revision and even the ability to declare a complete rejection of them, notifying the counterparties. This practice testifies to the emergence of one of the currently widespread methods of terminating treaties, i.e. denunciation. Consideration of the practice of terminating treaties of the Soviet state is carried out taking into account the impact of the 1917 Revolution on the further progressive development of the law of treaties.