"by leaving the UK Scotland would also leave all treaties signed by the UK"
it's covered by the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties
If the SNP claim they are refugees from colonialism they are covered by Article 16 otherwise it's Article 34.
Article 16 states that newly independent states receive a "clean slate", whereas article 34(1) states that all other new states remain bound by the treaty obligations of the state from which they separated.
Article 17 states that newly independent states may join multilateral treaties to which their former colonisers were a party without the consent of the other parties in most circumstances, whereas article 9 states that all other new states may only join multilateral treaties to which their predecessor states were a part with the consent of the other parties.
Last edited by Heathrow Harry; 25th Jul 2012 at 10:14.