Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/16-254_5iel.pdf
Page Number: 7

4 

WATER SPLASH, INC. v. MENON 

Opinion of the Court 

difference,  the  Article  10(a)  phrase  “send  judicial  docu­
ments”  encompasses  sending  documents  for  the  purposes 
of service. 

II
 
A 

In  interpreting  treaties,  “we  begin  with  the  text  of  the
treaty  and  the  context  in  which  the  written  words  are 
used.”  Schlunk,  486  U. S.,  at  699  (internal  quotation 
marks  omitted).  For  present  purposes,  the  key  word  in
Article 10(a) is “send.”  This is a broad term,1 and there is 
no apparent reason why it would exclude the transmission
of  documents  for  a  particular  purpose  (namely,  service). 
Moreover,  the  structure  of  the  Hague  Service  Convention 
strongly counsels against such a reading. 

The key structural point is that the scope of the Conven­
tion  is  limited  to  service  of  documents.    Several  elements 
of  the  Convention  indicate  as  much.    First,  the  preamble 
states  that  the  Convention  is  intended  “to  ensure  that 
judicial  and  extrajudicial  documents  to  be  served  abroad 
shall be brought to the notice of the addressee in sufficient 
time.”  (Emphasis added.)  And Article 1 defines the Con­
vention’s scope by stating that the Convention “shall apply 
in all cases, in civil or commercial matters, where there is 
occasion  to  transmit  a  judicial  or  extrajudicial  document 
for service abroad.”  (Emphasis added.)  Even the Conven­
tion’s full title reflects that the Convention concerns “Ser­
vice Abroad.” 

We have also held as much.  Schlunk, 486 U. S., at 701 
(stating  that  the  Convention  “applies  only  to  documents
transmitted for service abroad”).  As we explained, a pre­
liminary  draft  of  Article  1  was  criticized  “because  it  sug­
gested  that  the  Convention  could  apply  to  transmissions 
—————— 

1 See Black’s Law Dictionary 1568 (10th ed. 2014) (defining “send,” in
part, as “[t]o cause to be moved or conveyed from a present location to
another place; esp., to deposit (a writing or notice) in the mail”).