The narrowest view on article 31 (3) (c) was taken by Judge Buergenthal according to whom the Court's jurisdiction was limited to only those matters which the parties had agreed to entrust to it, and opined that this also limited the extent to which the Court could refer to other sources of law in interpreting the treaty before it.
Dans la pratique, une telle thèse ferait perdre tout son sens au paragraphe 3 c) de l'article 31 et irait à l'encontre d'une abondante pratique judiciaire et arbitrale internationale.