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Page Number: 11

8 

WATER SPLASH, INC. v. MENON 

Opinion of the Court 

the  Convention  is  “equally  authentic”  to  the  English  ver­
sion.  Schlunk,  486  U. S.,  at  699.    Menon  does  not  seri- 
ously  engage  with  the Convention’s  French  text.    But  the 
word  “adresser”—the  French  counterpart  to  the  word
“send” in Article 10(a)—“has been consistently interpreted
as  meaning  service  or  notice.”    Hague  Conference  on  Pri­
vate Int’l Law, Practical Handbook on the Operation of the 
Service Convention ¶279, p. 91 (4th ed. 2016). 

In  short,  the  most  that  could  possibly  be  said  for  this
argument  is  that  it  creates  an  ambiguity  as  to  Article 
10(a)’s meaning.  And when a treaty provision is ambigu­
ous, the Court “may look beyond the written words to the
history  of  the  treaty,  the  negotiations,  and  the  practical 
construction  adopted  by  the  parties.”    Schlunk,  supra,  at 
700  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted).    As  discussed 
below,  these  traditional  tools  of  treaty  interpretation 
comfortably  resolve  any  lingering  ambiguity  in  Water
Splash’s favor. 

III 

Three  extratextual  sources  are  especially  helpful  in 
ascertaining  Article  10(a)’s  meaning:  the  Convention’s 
drafting history, the views of the Executive, and the views 
of other signatories.

Drafting history has often been used in treaty interpre­
tation.  See  Medellín  v.  Texas,  552  U. S.  491,  507  (2008); 
Saks, supra, at 400; see also Schlunk, supra, at 700 (ana­
lyzing  the  negotiating  history  of  the  Hague  Service  Con­
vention).  Here, the Convention’s drafting history strongly
suggests  that  Article  10(a)  allows  service  through  postal
channels. 

Philip W. Amram was the member of the United States
delegation who was most closely involved in the drafting of 
the  Convention.  See  S.  Exec.  Rep.  No.  6,  90th  Cong.,  1st 
Sess.  5  (App.)  (1967)  (S.  Exec.  Rep.)  (statement  of  State 
Department  Deputy  Legal  Adviser  Richard  D.  Kearney).