Sources for public international law research
By David Gee, Deputy Librarian and Academic Services Manager, June 2010
Introduction
Public international law is the body of law governing relations between states, international organisations and, sometimes, individuals. At one time states were almost the only bodies that had rights and duties under international law, but during the twentieth century international organisations (such as the League of Nations and then the United Nations), multinational companies and, sometimes, individuals have also acquired rights and duties under international law. See Akehurst's Modern Introduction to International Law, 7th revised edition, 1997, for a fuller definition.
Public international law covers such diverse subject areas as air law, space law, maritime law (both shipping law and the law of the sea), diplomatic relations, human rights law, law of armed conflict, international environmental law, international economic law and international trade law. This body of law is expanding and developing all the time.
This concept of public international law should be distinguished from private international law or conflict of laws, which is the body of conventions and model laws that regulate private relationships across national borders, e.g. divorce law or the law relating to the sale of goods.
Primary sources of public international law
There are three main primary sources of public international law: treaties, law reports and state practice (or customary international law).
Treaties
A treaty is a written agreement whereby two or more states, or international organisations, create or intend to create, a relation between themselves operating in the sphere of international law. See McNair's Law of Treaties for a fuller definition. The term "treaty" is used in English as a convenient generic term for any kind of written international agreement. In addition to "treaty", terms such as "convention", "agreement", "declaration", "covenant and so on may be used.
Terminology
Adoption: the formal act whereby the form and content of the text of a proposed treaty are settled.
Signature: the official affixing of names to the text of the treaty by the representatives of the negotiating states as a means of expressing consent of a state to be bound by a treaty, or as an expression of provisional consent subject to ratification, acceptance, or approval.
Entry into Force: denotes the beginning of the period of the binding force of a treaty, i.e. its coming into operation. A treaty normally enters into force or effect; that is becomes operative upon such date as it may provide or as the negotiating states have otherwise agreed. Many treaties provide for their entry into force on the date of signature.
Where ratification, acceptance or approval is necessary, the treaty enters into force only after the exchange or deposit of the instruments of ratification, acceptance, or approval by all or by a certain specified minimum number of states.
Treaties may provide for their entry into force on a fixed date or a specified number of days or months following the date of deposit of the specified number of instruments of ratification or accession.
Ratification: is a common means by which a state expresses its definitive consent to be bound by a treaty. Not all treaties have to be ratified. Ratification occurs the treaty provides for consent to be expressed by means of ratification, if it is otherwise established that the negotiating states were agreed that ratification should be required, or if the intention of the states to sign the treaty subject to ratification appears from the full powers of its representatives or was expressed during negotiation.
Reservation: a unilateral statement made by a state when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving, or acceding to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that state.
Accession: the formal acceptance of a treaty by a state which did not take part in negotiating and signing it.
Sources of treaties
Treaties are published in general, national, regional and subject collections, as outlined below.
General collections
Consolidated Treaty Series, 1648-1920, edited by Clive Parry: the main source for all treaties before 1920. Published in 231 volumes with 12 volumes of indexes. Includes the texts of world treaties, bilateral or multilateral, in their original languages in addition to any existing translations in English or French. Provides a party index (subdivided chronologically within each country) and a general chronological list.
League of Nations Treaty Series, July 1920-October 1944: the main source for all treaties between 1920 and 1946. Contains treaties entered into by any member of the League of Nations from 1920-1945 in original languages plus French and English translations. Published in 205 volumes. There is a chronological index, an index of general international agreements and an alphabetical index (countries and subjects).
United Nations Treaty Series, December 1946 - : the main source for multilateral and bilateral treaties entered into by UN member states. Publication is about eight years in arrears. Includes cumulative alphabetical and chronological indexes.
Status of Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General,1949- : the UN is the official depositary for over 500 League of Nations and UN current multilateral treaties (often those treaties made at UN Conferences). Consequently it has an obligation to update, record and publish the current status information (including changes to the lists of signatories and ratifications) for these deposited treaties. It publishes this status information in the annual title Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary General.
United Nations Treaty Collection: this free UN website makes available the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS), League of Nations Treaty Series (LNTS) and tMultilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General. Here the UNTS comes with status information (lists of signatories, ratifications, texts of reservations, declarations and objections, and so on) and Status of Multilateral Treaties Deposited... is updated daily rather than annually and has links to the full text of treaties.
International Legal Materials (ILM), 1962 - ,published by the American Society of International Law (ASIL): until recently, this series published selected, but now it usually provides a link to treaties on the web instead. There are three cumulative indexes which together cover volumes 1-28 (1962-1989) . It is available in print and the whole series is on Lexis Library; all but the current volume can be found on HeinOnline; volume 19 (1962) onwards can be found on Westlaw International. ILM documents from 1990 onwards can also be searched for using ASILEX, the online index to ASIL publications.
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University - Multilaterals Project: not an official source, but free. The content is not updated frequently, but it does offer multilateral treaties for many different subject areas, such as human rights, environmental law, commerce and trade.
National treaty collections (top of section)
Many countries, such as the UK, US, Australia, South African and Germany, publish their own official series of treaties that they have signed.
United Kingdom
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) make available 14,000 UK treaty records (1835 - present) in a free web database called UK Treaties Online. It covers treaties in which the UK has a direct interest through signature or ratification, although a small number of records relate to treaties to which the UK is not currently a signatory. Each treaty record includes details such as the treaty title, type, place and date of signature date, country participants and date of entry into force date. The database includes the full text of treaties from 1892 to 1996, in the form of scanned images from the official, printed United Kingdom Treaty Series (UKTS).
For UK treaties from 1997 onwards, the full text is available via a separate part of the FCO website, under Treaty Command Papers and Explanatory Memoranda. The FCO hope to incorporate these documents in UK Treaties Online at a future date.
There are also printed sources for UK treaties:
United Kingdom Treaty Series.
This is the official source for treaties which have entered into force for the UK (whether this is on signature or following ratification, accession or by other means). It is compiled by the FCO and published by The Stationery Office (TSO). It is a sub-series of command papers (a type of UK official lpublication with a reference number prefixed C, Cd, Cmd, Cmnd or Cm).
Prior to entry into force and publication in the UKTS:
- if the treaty is bilateral, it is published in Country sub-series of Command Papers.
- if the treaty is multinational, a subject heading appears on the front cover and it is published in the Miscellaneous sub-series of command papers.
- EC treaties are published as Command Papers in the FCO European Community Series
Once the treaty has been published in the United Kingdom Treaty Series, the earlier command paper is removed from the web and the Explanatory Memorandum is then linked to the United Kingdom Treaty Series document.
Subsequent changes to the status of treaties involving the UK are published bi-annually in the Supplementary List. Changes to the status of bilateral treaties involving the UK, subsequent UK actions concerning multilateral treaties and changes to the status of the UK depositary treaties can be found in the Bulletin of recent changes to UK treaties in force. The Treaty Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office willl answer queries regarding UK treaties and their current status. Contact details are available on the treaties pages of the FCO website.
Earlier UK treaties can also be found in the series British and Foreign State Papers. Compiled by the Librarian and Keeper of the Papers, Foreign Office, this includes texts of treaties for the period 1812-1968, as well as treaties concluded before 1812 and still in force. The series contains both a chronological and an alphabetical subject index. The entire series is also available on HeinOnline.
United States (top of section)
The main printed sources of US treaties are:
Treaties and Other International Acts (TIAS) Series, US Dept. of State, 1945- : individual treaties are first published in this series and later cumulated into the UST (see next source). Dates of signature, ratification, implementation and official languages are included. These pamphlets are later cumulated in the r in the UST (see next source):
United States Treaties and Other International Agreements. US Dept of State, 1950- : annual compilation of TIAS; each volume has country and subject indexes; currently seventeen years in arrears.
Bevans, C. Treaties and other International Agreements of the USA, 1776-1949.
Online sources:
Lexis Library: the "U.S. Treaties on Lexis" file covers 1776 to the present and includes treaties to which the US is or was a party.
Westlaw International (available via Westlaw UK's Services menu): the "U.S. Treaties and Other International Agreements" file covers 1778 to the present and includes treaties to which the US is or was a party.
HeinOnline: the "Treaties and Agreements Library" include numerous official and unofficial sets of treaties involving the US.
Treaties and International Agreements Researchers Archive (TIARA), 1783 - : published by Oceana, this is an online subscription service TIARA contains the full-text of treaties where the US is a party. IALS does not subscribe to TIARA, but its quick US Treaties Index is available free on registration with the Oceana website.
The Library of Congress's THOMAS website provides searchable US treaty information from the 90th Congress onwards, with links to the full text from the 104th Congress (1995-1996) onwards.
Status information:
Current status information for all US treaties is published in the official, annual title Treaties in Force. The most recent edition is on the US Department of State website.
Australia
The Australian Treaties Library on the AUSTLII website is probably the most comprehensive national treaty database available over the web, as itcontains all multilateral and bilateral Australian treaties since 1901, with current status information.
South Africa
See the South African Cyber Treaty Series. This unofficial site contains only multinational treaties.
Germany
The treaties of the German Federal Republic appear in the official gazette, the Bundesgesetzblatt. They are in "Teil II" (part II) and there is an annual cumulative index (Fundstellennachweis B).
Many regional organisations publish their own official series of treaty collections. They include the Council of Europe, European Union, Organization of American States and NATO.
Council of Europe
Treaties agreed within the framework of the Council of Europe are published in the European Treaty Series. This includes the "Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms" (European convention on human rights). A Chart showing signatures and ratifications is issued from time to time. From 2004 the title of this publication changed to the Council of Europe Treaty Series (CETS) to avoid confusion with collections of EU treaties.
All Council of Europe treaties, with status information, are also available at http://conventions.coe.int .
European Union (EU)
The Treaties section of the European Union's free official EUR-Lex gateway provides links to the full text of the EU founding treaties, other treaties concerning the structure and functions of the EU, and the accession treaties. All other treaties concluded by the EU, for example treaties with non-member states, are searchable in the EUR-Lex Legislation section.
The European Commission's free Treaties Office database also provides access to the full text of treaties concluded between the EU and non-member states. It does not include the EU founding and accession treaties or other agreements concluded between the member states of the EUEuropean Union treaties can also be found on Celex, Lexis Library and Westlaw UK.
In paper copy, see the Official Journal of the European Communities/Union, or Nigel G. Foster (editor), EU treaties and legislation: 2009/10 ((
(Blackstone’s Statutes series)
Organization of American States (OAS)
The Organization of American States (OAS) also makes all its treaties available on its website, with status information.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
NATO offers all its treaties on its website. The basic treaties are listed in chronological order with a link to the full text.
Subject collections of treaties (top of section)
Many specialist international organisations publish their treaties on the web, including the WIPO and WTO.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) makes available the 24 treaties which it administers on its website.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) website provides all the WTO agreements and the pre-WTO GATT agreements. The subscription database, WorldTradeLaw.net, also provides access to WTO treaties and pre-WTO GATT treaties, as well as to valuable commentaries.
Other subject-based sources include:
European Tax Treaties, which are searchable via the IBFD Online subscription database. They are also available on Lexis Library.
Diamond, W.H. and Diamond, D.B., International Tax Treaties of all Nations, 1975-. By definition these treaties are mainly bilateral. This publication has the express purpose of covering the gap left by the slow appearance of UNTS. Being bound volumes, this set consists of the text of the treaties as originally signed. There is a loose-leaf supplementary volume and index.
Schmitthoff, C. International Commercial Arbitration. 1974-.
UNCTAD website, for bilateral investment treaties (just Google: "unctad bits")
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library: free web database maintained by the University of Minnesota. Human rights treaties available in full text and browseable by subject matter or searchable by keyword.
Historical treaty collections (top of section)
Historical collections of treaties are mostly in printed form. They include the following titles:
Martens, G.F. de, Recueil de traités d'alliance, de paix, de trève, de neutralité, de commerce, de limites, d'échange, etc. et plusieurs autres actes... (treaties from 1761 to 1808); Nouveau recueil de traités... (1808 to 1839); Nouveaux supplémens au Recueil de traités...(supplementary volumes, 1761 to 1839) ; and Nouveau recueil général de traités.... Compiled by G.F. de Martens and his successors, these are an important source of 18th and 19th Century treaties.
Rousset de Misy, J., Recueil historique d'actes, negotiations, memoires et traitez. 1728-1755.
Hertslet, L., Hertslet's Commercial treaties: a collection of treaties and conventions between Great Britain and foreign powers. 1840-1935.
Sourcebooks
Many of the most important treaties and agreements have been published in book form, for example:
Birnie, P.W. and Boyle, A.E. (eds.) Basic documents on international law and the environment, 1995.
Brownlie, Ian (ed) Basic documents in international law, 6th ed. 2009. (Int. Orgs., Law of the sea, Space law, Diplomatic relations, Human Rights, Law of treaties)
Brownlie, Ian, and Goodwin-Gill, Guy (eds) Basic documents on human rights, 5th ed. 2006. (U.N., I.L.O., UNESCO, Europe, Latin America, Africa etc.)
Hohmann, Harald (ed) Basic documents of international environmental law, Volumes 1-3, 1992.
Van Bueren, Geraldine (ed) International documents on children, 2nd rev ed. 1998.
Indexes to treaties (top of section)
The following treaty indexes are helpful if you do not have a full citation:
General indexes
- Bowman, M and Harris, D., Multilateral treaties: index and current status (main work and supplement, last updated in the mid-1990s): one of the best sources for multilateral treaties, though not exhaustive; produced by the University of Nottingham Treaty Centre. It is arranged chronologically, so you can go straight to the reference if you have the date. It has subject and keyword indexes and gives citations together with brief information on location, parties, signatories and status.
- FLARE Index to Treaties uses the data contained in Bowman and Harris (above) and ASIL’s International Legal Materials to create a searchable database which is available for free from the IALS Library website. The easy-to-use search template allows you to search through index information for 1,500 important multilateral treaties dating from 1856 onwards. Citations are given and links are provided to the treaty on the web, where available.
- World Treaty Index, 2nd edition, 1984, ed. Peter Rohn: index to over 44,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties signed between 1920 and 1984. Includes many treaties not found in the UNTS and LNTS. Offers access by keyword, parties, date, or subject.
- World Treaty Index: the data from Rohn's printed index formed the basis of this free resource, a test database maintained by the University of Michigan. It has been expanded to cover about 70,000 treaties signed between 1900 and 1999. Unfortunately no web links are provided to the full-text treaties on the web
Indexes to UK treaties
Parry, C. & Hopkins, C., An index of British Treaties: 1101-1988 is the main source, up to 1988, for treaties ratified by the UK (and its previous incarnations). It covers all the British multilateral treaties (indexed by subject) and bilateral treaties (indexed by country, subdivided by subject). Includes a chronological list of treaties by date of signature.
See also the Indexes to the Treaty Series (UKTS) and Bowman and Harris and the World Treaty Index (sections above).
Law Reports
Most international courts and tribunals derive their authority from their founding treaties, and usually the fundamental aim of these courts is to settle (peacefully) disputes over alleged treaty transgressions between member states who have signed the treaties.
International law does not have a system of binding precedent as in common law jurisdictions, but in practice international tribunals such as the International Court of Justice are very reluctant to change legal principles established in earlier cases. Official sets of international law reports are therefore important as a permanent record of the earlier court decisions. Most sets of international law reports are published by the international courts and tribunals themselves.
Law report publishing can also be considered from various different viewpoints: general collections. national collections, regional collections and subject collections, as outlined below.
General collections of international law cases
Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), 1920-1946: PCIJ decisions and related documents appear in the following official series: Collection of Judgments (Series A), Collection of Advisory Opinions (Series B), Judgments, Orders & Advisory Opinions (Series A/B), and Pleadings, Oral Statements & Documents (Series C). Judgments and advisory opinions are also available as on the ICJ website, in English and French, and on HeinOnline.
International Court of Justice (ICJ), 1946- : ICJ decisions and related documents are published in the two series Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders and Pleadings, oral arguments and documents. Both are in English and French. They are also available on the ICJ website, as well as on Lexis Library and Westlaw International.
International Law Reports, c.1794- : a Cambridge University Press series which publishes cases from international courts as well as case on international law from domestic courts, mostly from 1900 onwards. The series is also available from Justis Publishing in electronic format, although IALS Library does not currently susbcribe to the online version.
Oxford Reports on International Law (ORIL): subscription database produced by Oxford University Press, containg a large collection of international case law in five different modules:
- International Law in Domestic Courts: selected domestic cases in the field of international law from more than 75 jurisdictions, mostly dating from 2000 onwards. The judgments are in the original language, with key passages translated into English. Scholarly commentary is also provided.
- International Courts of General Jurisdiction: cases from the International Court of Justice, Permanent Court of International Justice, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Permanent Court of Arbitration.
- International Criminal Law: cases from the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
- International Human Rights Law: cases from the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, the European Court of Human Rights and several UN bodies.
- International Investment Claims: all publicly available awards and decisions in international investment arbitration cases, together with enforcement or review decisions from national courts. Includes cases from ICSID, the ICC International Court of Arbitration and many other arbitral bodies.
Each case on ORIL is linked to the Oxford Law Citator which gives parallel citations, lists earlier or subsequent stages of the case and provides details of instruments or cases cited in the decision, or citing it.
National collections of international law cases
- British International Law Cases covers cases from 1607-1970. It has now ceased publication.
- American International Law Cases covers cases from 1783 onwards.
Regional collections of international law cases (top of section)
European Court of Justice (ECJ)
- Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and Court of First Instance. As the printed edition is a couple of years in arrears, it is best to check the Court's website, Curia, for recent cases, or look up alternative law report citations on Westlaw UKor Lexis Library.
- The Curia website provides all EU cases. There are two different sources on this site, both found under “Case Law” on the home page. C lick on " Search Form” for a searchable database of decisions from 17th June 1997 onwards (updated daily). For all previous decisions, click on “Numerical access to the case law”: an index with links to the full text; covers all registered cases, whether they have been heard or not, with status information (e.g. pending, removed from the register); also updated daily.
- The EUR-Lex site also contains all EU cases - choose the "Case Law" link on the left-hand navigation bar on the home page.
- Lexis Library, Westlaw UK and Justis CELEX also contain the full text of EU cases.
Commonwealth
- Commonwealth International Law Cases. Covers cases from 1974 onwards.
Subject collections of international law cases (top of section)
Human rights
- HUDOC: free website provided by the European Court of Human rights, containing all the Court's decisions. It also has details of impending cases and the text of many of the decisions and reports of the European Commission of Human Rights (which ceased to function in 1999).
- European Human Rights Reports: contains selected ECHR cases; the series is published by Sweet and Maxwell and it is also available on Westlaw UK.
Criminal
Cases from international criminal courts and tribunals can be found on the database Oxford Reports on International Law as well as on the free web:
The decisions of the two Tribunals are also available on Westlaw International.
Arbitration (top of section)
- Reports of International Arbitral Awards, (United Nations Office of Legal Affairs) 1918- . Printed series; also available on HeinOnline and the UN website.
- Iran-United States Claims Tribunal Reports, 1981- . Printed series; also available on Westlaw International.
- ICSID Reports: reports of cases decided under the Convention on the settlement of investment disputes between states and nationals of other states, 1965- These reports are also on the ICSID website
- Collection of ICC arbitral awards, 1974
See also Westlaw International's large set of international commercial arbitration materials, including awards, International Commercial Arbitration - Institutions
Trade (top of section)
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dispute Resolution Panels and Appeal Panel Reports are available for free on the WTO website; subscribers may find them on Lexis Library and Westlaw International. They are also available on the subscription database WorldTradeLaw.net, with commentaries.
See also the printed series Dispute Settlement Reports.
Law of the sea
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea provides all its cases on its website. They are also on the subscription database Oxford Reports on International Law.
State practice, or customary international law
This type of material illustrates previous practice by nation states and can be used as an indication of future practice in a similar international situation. However no source has binding precedent over a nation state's future conduct, and international situations rarely repeat themselves exactly. Information about state practice many be found in diplomatic correspondence, national legislation, legal opinions, evidence given before courts and tribunals, parliamentary debates and so on.
The United Kingdom, the United States and some European countries publish digests of state practice, for example:
- British Yearbook of International Law, 1920 - : includes UK state practice material such as extracts from House of Commons and House of Lords debates, Command Papers, speeches, parliamentary answers, and evidence to committees. (A|lso available on the HeinOnline database)
- United States Department of State, Digest of United States practice in international law, 1973-
Secondary sources
Classic textbooks
- McNair, A. Law of treaties. 1961.
- Elias, T. Modern law of treaties. 1974.
- Jennings, R. Oppenheim's International Law, 2 vols. 1992.
Student textbooks
Key titles include:
- Malanczuk, P. Akehurst's modern introduction to international law. 1997.
- Cassese, A. International law. 2005.
- Harris, D.J. Cases and materials on international law. 2004. (The only English casebook for international law.)
- Shaw, M. International law. 2008
Yearbooks
National yearbooks
Most countries produce yearbooks which contain substantial articles, book reviews and documents on international law. These yearbooks can also contain international judicial decisions, treaties, and sometimes surveys of contemporary state practice. Examples include the British Yearbook of International Law (also available on the HeinOnline database) and the Netherlands Yearbook of International Law. See Library Catalogue for other titles.
Subject yearbooks
Some yearbooks focus on a particular area law of law, for example: Yearbook: Commercial Arbitration and Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law.
Yearbooks of international organisations
These are a useful source of information about the activities of international organisations. They include copies of official documents and lists of members. Some are available on the web, for example, the Yearbook of the United Nations.
Journals
There are probably hundreds of journals focusing on international law. Leading series include the American Journal of International Law and the International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Many international law journals are available on the subscription databases Westlaw UK, Westlaw International, Lexis Library and HeinOnline.
Useful websites (top of section)
- United Nations Documentation Centre: this page provides access to the documents of the major bodies, including the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, and the Secretariat. Texts of resolutions for many years are available via this route.
- UNCITRAL (UN Commission on International Trade Law)
FLAG Foreign Law Guide (top of section)
The FLAG Foreign Law Guide is an online searchable catalogue of libraries in the UK with holdings of primary foreign and international law materials in print format. The freely available database is located on the IALS library website and is updated regularly. Researchers are therefore able to identify and locate easily the primary law materials scattered in law libraries across the UK.
Useful web gateways
- Eagle - i service: the national web gateway for law created and managed by the IALS Library
- ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law
(Please note that Westlaw UK and Lexis Library are only available to academic users of IALS Library).
- Page last updated: 10 August, 2011
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