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Originally Posted by pwalker8
One of the more common themes in law is that there is no such thing as a law or treaty that can't be revoke or overturned. In the US, a treaty may be renounced either by the president or by congress. Both methods have been used and upheld by the courts (actually the Supreme Court simply rejects any suit challenging such a move as a political, not a legal question).
For some reason, a lot of people seem to have the idea that it's one man, one vote, one time, but that's never been the case. Treaties last as long as they are useful and no longer.
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Of course Sovereign states can choose to unilaterally abrogate or breach a treaty. I have no doubt there are instances, though I can't think of one amongst First World Countries off the top of my head. Normally they will not do so for obvious reasons, but will instead follow whatever mechanism has been set out in the particular treaty involved. In the case of the EEC, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdr...European_Union for an overview. As I said, you will almost certainly find that if the UK does withdraw it will follow these procedures. One think it will almost certainly not do is say, the morning after the referendum, "We are no longer part of the EEC effective immediately. We are not going to honour our treaty obligations". To do so would damage their reputation, their credibility in relation to other and future treaties, the possibility of sanctions etc.