“Pravova derzhava”. Issue 37 (2026), pages 763–772.

DOI: 10.33663/0869-2491-2026-37-763-772

Hishko Valerii
Peculiarities of Academician V. M. Koretsky’s approache to defining the role of clausula rebus sic stantibus

ISSN online: 2617-9776 print: 0869-2491

Evaluating the importance of V. M. Koretsky’s research paper «On the question of fulfilling obligations (some lessons of the newest German judicial practice)», first of all, it should be realized that it was written more then 100 years ago (1922) and was among the first works by means of which the young scientist V. M. Koretsky began his scientific activity. Symbolically, however, it is a fact that during a long and fruitful V.

M. Koretsky’s life (1890–1984) rebus sic stantibus clause went through all the main stages of its genesis: (1) the stage of identifying a social need (in particular, the emergence of a situation in post-war Germany in the 20s of the 20th century that required legal settlement by means of clausula rebus sic stantibus), (2) the stage of development and adoption of the rule of law (the work of the International Law Commission and the codification of rebus sic stantibus doctrine in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969) and (3) the stage of implementation of the rule of law (application of the doctrine of a fundamental change of circumstances by the International Court of Justice and other judicial/arbitration institutions; compliance or implementation of the specified doctrine as an international custom or as a rule of law codified in Art. 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969).

Scientific value of the examined V. M. Koretsky’s study consists in the fact that the emergence of a situation in post-war Germany in the 20s of the 20th century, which required legal settlement by applying the rebus sic stantibus clause, has been reliably reflected due to the presented in the study court decisions of the Supreme Court of Germany (Reichgericht).The work presents and examines the approaches proposed by famous German specialists in civil law to substantiate the possibility of deviating from the principle of pacta sund servanda, in particular by means of the application of the principle of good faith (Treu und Glauben), customs of turnover, Windscheid’s assumption (Voraussetzung), impossibility of performance, etc.

Analyzing the specified judicial practice and proposed academic approaches to justifying the need for courts to apply the rebus sic stantibus clause, V.M. Koretsky notes the presence of economic and political justifications in the growing number of court decisions of the specified period, which were determined by the need to regulate economic relations taking into account the existing economic system.

The main lesson to be learned from the decisions of the courts of post-war Germany in the 20s of the 20th century, according to V. M. Koretsky, consists in the fact that there is no legal issue, which at the same time would not be a socio-political issue. The conclusion, that was made by V. M. Koretsky more than a hundred years ago when studying the specific circumstances of the functioning of the post-WWI German economy, with the passage of time could have been considered somewhat outdated and irrelevant to the modern system of international law and international relations, however, on February 24, 2022, history made such, as it seemed then, an unexpected zigzaz, which pushed the question of the relevance of the mentioned conclusion beyond certain time, geographical and political frameworks, confirming the ability of Academician V.M. Koretsky to make broad generalizations that stand the test of time and acquire the status of legal stratagems awaiting their practical application.

Keywords: international law, customary international law, principles of international law, international obligations, pacta sunt servanda, clausula rebus sic stantibus, fundamental change of circumstances, law of treaties, international treaties, judicial practice, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, codification of international law, V. M. Koretsky.

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Дата першого надходження рукопису до видання: 24.12.2025
Дата прийнятого до друку рукопису після рецензування: 03.03.2026
Дата публікації: 24.03.2026