Epilogue: Against Codification

These short remarks are slightly expanded from a text delivered at the Conference on Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Against Sovereigns, held at the University of Luxembourg on 10 January 2024. It sounds an extended note of caution against unthinking use of codifications in international law, and explains how reference to materials beyond influential projects such as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) and the Articles on the Responsibility of states for Internationally Wrongful Acts reveals a rather more complicated landscape than first appears when considering the enforcement of arbitral awards against states. I address briefly two examples: the enforceability of arbitral awards procured by fraud or corruption, and the rules for the resolution of treaty conflicts.