1978) ("[T]he expenditure of funds by the United States cannot be accomplished by
self-executing treaty; implementing legislation appropriating such funds is indispensable."); Turner v.
Just as a statute pre-empts common law when Congress speaks directly to the question, a
self-executing treaty like the Convention pre-empts common law if the treaty speaks directly to the question.
A
self-executing treaty has "automatic domestic effect as federal law." (32) By contrast, a non-self-executing treaty has what sounds like a distinctly lesser status: it is not "by itself' enforceable in the courts.
(54) Generally, a ratified
self-executing treaty is
A
self-executing treaty is a treaty that becomes judicially enforceable upon ratification.
Hence, the 1961 Hague Convention is not a
self-executing treaty law.
self-executing treaty by enacting a subsequent statute contradicting the
(55) However, neither the Paris Convention nor the TRIPS Agreement is a
self-executing treaty, and Congress has not amended the Lanham Trademark Act to add express language in order to protect well-known trademarks without prior trademark use in commerce in the United States.
at 527 ("[G]iving domestic effect to an international treaty obligation under the Constitution--for making law--requires joint action by the Executive and Legislative Branches: The Senate can ratify a
self-executing treaty 'ma[de]' by the Executive, or, if the ratified treaty is not self-executing, Congress can enact implementing legislation approved by the President.").
A
self-executing treaty is ratified with the understanding that the treaty will have domestic force, namely, by including language "plainly providing for domestic enforceability." Id.
In order to answer this question, it must first be determined whether the VCCR is a
self-executing treaty. (85) Only then could the treaty give rise to a cause of action to enforce any rights that may be granted under that treaty.
Other constitutions statue the lex posterior rule as in the United States ("later in time") and the others consecrated the supremacy of the
self-executing treaty upon the national law.