International Law Research

Pratt-SLISSpring 2011Dana Neacsu

What Will You Learn Today?

• Public International Law1. What it is2. How you can find it

Sources of International Law

• International conventions (treaties)

• Customary law• General principles of law • Jurisprudence• International law scholars’ writings

• La Doctrine

Researching International LawSecondary Sources

• Journal Articles• Treatises• Directories• Research Guides• Dictionaries• Encyclopedias

Secondary Sources Provide…

• Background information• Citations to primary documents• Information about international

organizations• Analysis and commentary • Chronology of events• Definitions and explanations of

legal concepts • La Doctrine

Legal Journal Indexes

• Index to Legal Periodicals• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals• Law-related Indexes

• Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)• International Political Science Abstracts

• Public International Law: A Current Bibliography of Books and Articles

Definitions, Abbreviations & Acronyms

• Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations• Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations • Guide to Foreign and International Legal

Citations• World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations• International Legal Citation Manual• Encyclopedia of Public International Law• Dictionary of International and

Comparative Law• International Law: A Dictionary

International Organizations

Fact books, directories, and statistical compilation:

• United Nations YearBook• (other guides:

http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/resource/internat/unguide.html

• International Organizations and Related Information(http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/intl.html)

• IGO and NGO websites

Primary Sources

• Treaties/International Agreements• Declarations, Organizational Statements, Reports• Resolutions

• Judicial decisions/Case Law• Interpretations of international tribunals

• Customary International Law• National Legislation• Regulations• Government/Policy Statements • Restatements of the law

• La Doctrine

Primary Sources: Treaties & Agreements

Treaty = an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation

- Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/1_1_1969.pdf

Primary Sources: U.S. Treaties & Agreements (I)

• Treaty Indexes• Treaties in Force (TIF)

(http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/treaties/)• Treaty Actions

(http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/c3428.htm)• United States Treaty Index (HeinOnline –

subscription based)

Primary Sources: U.S. Treaties & Agreements (II)

Official Full-Text Sources• United States Treaties and Other International

Agreements (cited to as U.S.T.) (1950-date) • Treaties and Other International Acts Series (cited to

as T.I.A.S.) (1946-date) • Statutes at Large (cited to as Stat.) (1776-1950)• Treaties and Other International Agreements of the

United States, 1776-1949 (Bevans) available on Hein• Thomas Treaties

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/treaties/treaties.htm

Primary Sources: U.S. Treaties & Agreements (III)

• Unofficial Sources• Hein's United States Treaties and Other International

Agreements Current Service (1990) • Consolidated Treaties and International Agreements

(often cited to as CTIA) (1990-) • Lexis (INTLAW; USTRTY) • Westlaw (USTREATIES)

Primary Sources: Multilateral Treaties & Agreements (I)

• Treaty Indexes• Multilateral Treaty Calendar• Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary

General (http://untreaty.un.org/ENGLISH/bible/englishinternetbible/bible.asp)

• World Treaty Index • Index to Multilateral Treaties: A Chronological List of

Multi-Party International Agreements from the Sixteenth Century through 1963, with citations to their text

Primary Sources: Multilateral Treaties & Agreements (II)

• Full-text SourcesCURRENT• United Nations Treaty Series (cited to as U.N.T.S.)

United Nations Treaty Collection (http://untreaty.un.org/ENGLISH/access.asp)

• International Legal Materials (cited to as I.L.M.) (Westlaw & Lexis)

Primary Sources: Multilateral Treaties & Agreements (III)

HISTORICAL• Consolidated Treaty Series (often cited to as C.T.S. or

Consol. T.S.) • The League of Nations Treaty Series (cited to as

L.N.T.S.)

• Avalon Project (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm)

• Multilaterals Project (http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multilaterals.html)

• U.N. Office of Legal Affairs Treaty Section (212) 963-2523

Primary Sources: Customary International Law

• State papers• Diplomatic correspondence• Executive decisions• Judicial decisions

• National courts• International tribunals

• National Legislation• Teachings of international law scholars• Practice of international organizations

Primary Sources: Case law (I)

• UN’s International Court of Justice (http://www.icj-cij.org/)

• Inter-American Court of Human Rights, IACHR (http://www.corteidh.or.cr/)

Primary Sources: Case law (II)• International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, ITLOS,

(http://www.itlos.org/)

• International Criminal Court, ICC (http://www.icc-cpi.int/home.html)

• International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, ICTR (http://www.ictr.org)

• International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY (http://www.un.org/icty/index.html)

• Permanent Court of Arbitration, PCA (http://www.pca-cpa.org/)

• Special Court for Sierra Leone, SC-SL (http://www.sc-sl.org/)

International Organizations

• Two types of international organizations• Governmental (IGO)

• UN (www.un.org) or Organization of American States• Non-governmental (NGO)

• World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and Amnesty International

• Research guides • ASIL Guide to International Organizations (

http://www.asil.org/resource/intorg1.htm)• Non-governmental Organizations Research Guide (

http://docs.lib.duke.edu/igo/guides/ngo/index.htm)

UN Legal Research

1. United Nations Documentation Centerhttp://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/2. UNbisnethttp://unbisnet.un.org/

3. ODS (Official Documents of the United Nations)

http://ods.un.org/