Transcript databases - theprattlawlibrarian

International Law
Research
Pratt-SLIS
Spring 2010
What Will You Learn Today?
• Public International Law
1. What it is
2. 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 Law
Secondary 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/resou
rce/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
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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/englishinternetbi
ble/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 Sources
CURRENT
• 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
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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.icjcij.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.icccpi.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.pcacpa.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 Center
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/
2. UNbisnet
http://unbisnet.un.org/
3. ODS (Official Documents of the United Nations)
http://ods.un.org/