Researching International Criminal Law
Getting Started
By Judith Gire, Library Director
Last updated: 28 Aug 2008
Hierarchy of Sources of International Criminal Law
Article 38 of the International Court of Justice Statute sets out the following sources of international law in order of their weight as authority:
http://www.icj-cij.org/ > Basic Documents > Statute of the Court
- International Conventions/Treaties
- International Custom as evidence of a general practice accepted as law
- General Principles of Law recognized by civilized nations
- Judicial Decisions and teachings of the most highly qualified publicists
Only the first three sources apply to international criminal law since “teachings of the most highly qualified publicists, i.e. judges or jurists of international courts or tribunals, cannot create supra-national binding laws as local legislative and adjudicatory bodies do. See M. Cherif Bassiouni, International Criminal Law (2d ed.) (Ardsley, N.Y.: Transnational Pub., 1998), pp.4-5.
Starting Places
Electronic Research Guides
- American Society of International Law (ASIL) Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: International Criminal Law by Gail A. Partin provides a textual pathfinder to the major electronic sources for researching international and transnational crime as well as current issues common to both categories.
http://www.asil.org/resource/crim1.htm - International Criminal Law: A Selective Resource Guide by Marylin J. Raisch and Gail Partin provides a selective quick guide to basic and significant materials, both print and electronic, for international criminal law.
http://www.llrx.com/feature/int_crim.htm - Research Guide to International Criminal Law by Massimo Magagni at the University of Bologna, Faculty of Political science provides links for the International Criminal Court, the Ad Hoc Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and international criminal law in general.
http://www2.spfo.unibo.it/spolfo/CRIMLAW.htm - NYU Law Library “Guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases” section on International Criminal Law compiled by Mirela Roznovschi.
http://www.law.nyu.edu/library/foreign_intl/ - Harvard
University Law School Library, ILS Foreign and International
Law Resources: An Annotated Guide to Web Sites Around the World
Quick links to research guides for foreign and international law internet resources including international law news and IGOs.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/research/guides
/international/web_resources/index.php - Guide to Law Online (GLIN)
Prepared by Law Library of Congress this is an annotated guide to sources of government and law including international.
http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/index.html - LLRX Comparative and Foreign Law guides
Links to guides on doing Internet research in many foreign countries
http://www.llrx.com/comparative_and_foreign_law.html
Treatises
- Check for treatise material by leading authorities for background material, scholarly examination, and practical guidance on international criminal law topics.
- Treatise materials on international criminal law are classified into KZ.
- MELcat
- Use Pierce Law’s online catalog to access the law library’s treatise holdings.
- Try Keyword searches of “International criminal law”
- Try Subject searches for “criminal jurisdiction” and “international offenses”
- NELLCO catalog
Provides access to online catalogs of member libraries of the New England Law Library Consortium including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, NYU, Columbia and University of Pennsylvania. Search individual member’s online catalogs or search combinations.
http://www.nellco.org/index.cfm?pageId=523&parentID=474
- See Barry Shanks to Interlibrary Loan items not held by Pierce Law
Periodical Articles
- Good source for current topics in international criminal law and to citations to relevant sources
- Access articles on international criminal law topics through the following databases:
- LegalTrac
- Legal Resource Database on LexisNexis and WESTLAW
- *Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
- *ProQuest Criminal Justice periodicals Index
Comprehensive database of U.S. and international criminal justice journals. The database provides research support for students interested in careers in criminal justice, law enforcement, corrections administration, drug enforcement, rehabilitation, family law, and industrial security. The database includes abstract and indexing for 240 titles, with more than 80 available in full text.
- Check Integrated holdings of print and online journal and periodicals to access periodical articles available to Pierce Law patrons
- See Barry Shanks to Interlibrary Loan articles not available at Pierce Law
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
- Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law
- Encyclopedia of Public International Law
Treaty Sources
There are many treaties, conventions and agreements relating to international criminal law topics that are available through the following web sites:
- United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (Oceana)
Licensed web site accessing full-text of all U.S. treaties and international agreements since 1783 that are in force.
http://0-www.oceanalaw.com.cardcatalog.piercelaw.edu/gateway/main_account_ip.asp?
- United Nations Treaty Collection
Fee-based database of all treaties entered into by member nations including text and status of the treaty. Contains many significant international criminal law treaties.
http://0-untreaty.un.org.cardcatalog.piercelaw.edu/
- Council of Europe: European Treaties
Provides text of Statute of the Council of Europe and other COE treaties with reservations, signatures and ratifications.
http://conventions.coe.int/
- European Union Web Site
Site for the Union’s institutions and organizations with text of EU founding treaties, policies, and institutional documents.
http://europa.eu/
- Organization of American States (OAS)
Provides text and status of conventions and treaties relating to corruption, human rights, judicial cooperation, terrorism, and weapons in the Inter-American Treaties database.
http://www.oas.org/
- Multilaterals Projects at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy
Ongoing project to provide access to full text electronically of international conventions and other instruments.
http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multilaterals.html
Judicial Sources
International Criminal Court
- International Criminal Court: Resources in Print and Electronic Format
A hyperlinked bibliography of web sites and full-text secondary sources relating to the International Criminal Court prepared by Lyonette Louis-Jacques at the University of Chicago.
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/icc.html
Ad Hoc Tribunals
- International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Official UN web site.
http://www.un.org/icty/index.html
- University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
International criminal courts materials on history of Yugoslav conflict
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/icty/icty.html
- InternationalCriminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
Official UN web site.
http://69.94.11.53/
- University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
International criminal courts materials on history of Rwanda conflict
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/rwanda-page.html
Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
- Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
Materials available at Yale Avalon Project including digitized material from Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal: Proceedings Volumes 14 November 1945- 1 October 1946 and Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression (Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1946)
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/imt.htm
- Nuremberg Trials Project
Harvard Law School Library’s website devoted to analysis and digitization of documents relating to the Nuremberg Trials including transcripts, briefs, evidence files, document books.
http://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/php/docs_swi.php?DI=1&text=overview
International and Regional Courts
- International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Official site of the ICJ with list of all judgments delivered since 1946 as well as information on history of the Court, current docket, procedures, jurisdiction and rules. Most judgments are summarized. All ICJ decisions are available in the INT-ICJ database on Westlaw.
http://www.icj-cij.org/
- Oxford Reports on International Law
Features broad coverage of international case law from international courts and tribunals, domestic courts and as hoc tribunals.
http://0-ildc.oxfordlawreports.com.cardcatalog.piercelaw.edu/
Information Networks,
Information Clearinghouses
and Statistical Sources
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service
U.S. Department of Justice site that includes sections on corrections, courts, crime prevention, criminal justice statistics, drugs, international information, juvenile justice, law enforcement, research and evaluation, victims, and current highlights.
http://www.ncjrs.gov/
- Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), International Justice Statistics
Complete resource for international criminal statistics with explanations and references.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ijs.htm
- World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems
Provides narrative descriptions of criminal justices systems of countries of the world. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/wfcj.htm
- International Criminal Law Network (ICLN)
Organizes global interaction between academics, policymakers and legal professionals in international criminal law.
http://www.icln.net/
- International Criminal Justice Sources
Maintained by Dr. Cecil E. Greek at Florida State University, this list links to websites for criminal law, law enforcement, crime prevention & peacemaking and offers regional source lists for the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, Australia, Africa, Asia, and South American.
http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/p/cjl-world.php
- Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL)
American Society of International Law’s links to primary documents and best sites for international criminal law.
http://www.eisil.org/index.php?sid=907848276&t=sub_pages&cat=21
©2008 Franklin Pierce Law Center Library, Judith Gire. All rights reserved.