by

Judy Gire, Library Director

 

When researching international law issues, Article 38 of the International Court of Justice Statute http://www.icj-cig.org/documents/index.php?p1=4&p2=2&p3=0 lists the sources of international law in order of their weight as authority:

 

1.       International conventions and treaties

2.       International custom as evidence of a general practice accepted as law

3.       General principles of law recognized by civilized nations (doctrines of fairness and justice applied universally in legal systems throughout the world)

4.       Judicial decisions and teachings of the most highly qualified publicists

 

The first three sources are primary sources while judicial decisions and teachings of the most highly qualified publicists are treated as secondary sources.

 

Marci B. Hoffman & Robert C. Berring (Thompson-West  2008).

Designed for international legal research novices, this timely, succinct guide discusses the most important print and electronic sources readily available to anyone with access to a law library or the Internet. Available  on Reserve in the library.

 

 Marci B. Hoffman & Mary Rumsey (Martinus Nijhoff 2008).

 

Designed for classes in foreign and international legal research, this text can be used when a researcher needs information on an international law topic or source. Topics range from basic concepts of international law to particular international law subjects with emphasis on research strategies. Includes print and electronic sources. Available in Professor Gire’s office.

 

Revised every six months, this is an excellent textual discussion of how to do international legal research on the Internet, highlighting important primary and secondary sources.

 

 

 

 

Academic law libraries with strong international collections often provide international law research guides on their web sites designed to aid beginning researchers. These guides are frequently geared to the library’s own collection.  Examples: Columbia, Duke, Harvard, UC Berkeley and Yale.

 

 

Produced by Hauser Global Law School Program of New York University, Globalex includes high quality legal research guides on various international subjects as well as timely articles on international law topics and venues.

 

This site includes a number of research guides on international law posted by law librarians as well as a search function.

 

                Online Tutorials for International Legal Research

 

This 45 minute lesson by Tom Kimbrough is designed as a guide for students who are not familiar with researching private international law questions.

 

Duke University Law Library

 

This free online tutorial prepared by the Duke University Law Library offers basics of international legal research with emphasis on treaties and agreements, customary law and international organizations. Includes review questions.

 

                International Law Metapages

American Society of International Law’s comprehensive site with links to law instruments, web sites and online research guides for international law.

 

 

Law Library of Congress portal to Internet links for reference sources for nations and

regions. Includes international sources.

 

 

Official United Nations web site section on international law with links to law-related U.N. bodies, U.N. Treaty Series, the ICJ and other international courts.

 

Good place to access U.N. information and documents

 

 

 

 

Check for international law treatises by leading authorities. Search by author and title if known or by subject heading or keyword in an online library catalog. Most international law treatises at Pierce Law are classed under KZ.

 

Online catalog of all Pierce Law Library treatise holdings.

 

Provides access to online catalogs of NELLCO member libraries including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia and NYU. Search individual library catalog or search combinations to identify relevant treatises.

 

See Reference Librarian Barry Shanks if you need to interlibrary loan treatises not available in the Pierce Law Library.

 

Many law reviews and journals include articles on international law topics which are sources for current information and citations to relevant material.

 

Index of Anglo-American legal periodicals and law reviews. Search by author or title if known or by subject heading or keyword.  

 

Index to articles on foreign, comparative and international law published in legal periodicals and law reviews from around the world. Search by author, title, subject, keyword.

Full-text database of leading interdisciplinary academic journals.

 

Full-text collection of working papers, journal articles, books, policy briefs, research projects and conference proceedings discussing theory, policy and research of international affairs.

 

See Reference Librarian Barry Shanks if you need to interlibrary loan periodical articles not available through the Pierce Law Library.

 

Authoritative encyclopedia on public international law topics written by scholars and practitioners from around the world.

 

Hein Online’s comprehensive collection of historical sources of United States Treaties includes: U.S. Statutes at Large, Bevan’s Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, Treaties and Other International Acts Series and International Legal Materials. Fee-based.

Full-text collection of all U.S. treaties and international agreements since 1773 that are in force. Fee-based.

 

LexisNexis and Westlaw have separate databases of U.S. treaties dating back to 1776 on LexisNexis and 1778 on Westlaw.

 

Comprehensive print index to United States treaties kept current through a Current Treaty Index service with updating to the last 6 months. Available in library print collection.

 

 

Annual index prepared by the U.S. Department of State and available in print and electronically. Lists every bilateral and multilateral treaty the United States is a party to and indicates topic, parties, whether the treaty is still in force and sources of text. Also available in the Hein Treaties and Agreements Library and in separate databases on LexisNexis and Westlaw.

 

Compiled by Igor Kavass, this annual print index to current United States treaties is similar in scope and format to the government’s Treaties in Force. It is also available in the Hein Treaties and Agreements Library.

 

Updates Treaties in Force and available on the U.S. Department of State web site.

 

Specialized print reporter collecting federal and state cases relating to international law from 1783 to date. Available in library print collection.

 

Database of select United States court cases and related materials to aid legal professionals in identifying and understanding how international law is interpreted and applied by United States courts at the federal and state level.

 

Digest topic “Treaties” will yield United States cases dealing with treaties and international law topics

 

 

Hearings and debates of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and transmittal messages from the President and Secretary of State to the Committee can provide evidence of “intent” behind a United States treaty. The LexisNexis Congressional database is a good source for these documents.     http://0-web.lexis-nexis.com.cardcatalog.piercelaw.edu/congcomp?  

 

 

This collection includes:

                League of Nations Treaty Series (L.N.T.S.), 1920-1944

                Full-text of treaties registered with the Secretary of the League

 

                United Nations Treaty Series (U.N.T.S.), 1944-

This collection includes full-text of all bilateral and multilateral treaties registered with the Secretariat. Most comprehensive treaty series, but there can be time lags. 

 

This journal published by the American Society of International Law includes full-text of selected treaties and agreements. It is available on LexisNexis, Westlaw and Hein Online.

 

 

Check organization web sites such as the Council of Europe, Organization of American States for text of treaties of their member states. Many IGO’s have web sites containing text of regional treaties.

 

Checking for signatories, status, ratification and reservation information on treaties where the United States is not a party can be difficult. There is no one collection of links providing access to all relevant treaty information.  The United Nation’s Status of Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General   http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ParticipationStatus.aspx is a good place to start but status information and reservations are limited to a small portion of the world’s treaties. Check databases or web sites provided by treaty secretaries and depositories for regional organizations.

 

“Customary international law develops from the practice of States. To international lawyers ‘the practice of states’ means official governmental conduct reflected in a variety of acts, including official statements at international conferences and in diplomatic exchanges, formal instructions to diplomatic agents, national court decisions, legislative measures or other actions taken by governments to deal with matters of international concern.” (Thomas Buergentahl & Sean D. Murphy, Public International Law in a Nutshell  22-23 (4^th ed. 2007).

 

Evidence of a state’s practice is found in: (1) treaties; (2) decisions of national and international courts; (3) national legislation; (4) opinions of national legal advisors; (5) diplomatic correspondence; and (6) practice of international organizations.

 

                Yearbooks published by individual countries and by intergovernmental organizations provide a good way to assess information on state practice. They can note important legislation, case law and diplomatic practice involving international law. Check library online catalogs and web sites for countries and IGOs. 

 

Series of digests first published in 1877 act as encyclopedias of United States international law practice. The last published was Whiteman’s Digest of International Law covering 1940s-1960s. Available in the library’s print collection.

 

These digests supplement the earlier digests and cover smaller time periods.

Available in the library’s print collection.

 

Department of State’s official documentary historical record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. Also available in library’s print collection.

 

 

Unofficial, but respected summary of United States law and practice in international law and foreign relations. Available on LexisNexis and Westlaw and in library’s print collection.

 

                Includes decisions of courts as well as international tribunals.

 

Source of text of decisions and activities of the most significant international court. Decisions also available on LexisNexis and Westlaw.

 

Features domestic law cases relating to international law from over 80 jurisdictions. Includes full text of judgments in original language with translations of key passages into English and detailed summaries.