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The University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee, Knoxville - College of Law Library

Frequently Used Tools:




Public International Law Research Guide

United Nations |US International Law | Regional Systems & Other Courts Books & Journals | Research Web sites

UNITED NATIONS

UN activities

UN home page
From here, access information on:

International Law  – links to International Law Commission, Law of the Sea, Treaties, international courts, etc.

Peace and Security – links to General Assembly, Security Council, peacekeeping, etc.

Economic and Social Development – links to international trade, population, statistics, etc.

Human Rights – links to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, human rights treaties & treaty-monitoring bodies, ICTY, ICTR, human rights research guide, etc.

Humanitarian Affairs – links to UN High Commissioner for Refugees, ReliefWeb, etc.

UN resolutions – browsing by number

UN Documentation Centre  
Easy resource for locating text of all General Assembly, Security Council, and Economic and Social Council resolutions – that is, if you have the resolution number or want to browse chronologically (not searchable by text).  General Assembly resolutions are listed numerically by UN session.  Security Council resolutions listed chronologically by year.

Resolution numbering:            
A/RES/50/27 = General Assembly resolution (#27) adopted at the 50th Session
S/RES/1438 (2002) = Security Council Resolution #1438, adopted in 2002

UN documents – searchable

Official Document System of the United Nations (ODS) 
Full text database of UN documents/resolutions from 1993-present.

Search by:
– UN document symbol (if you have the exact document symbol, select “none” for truncation)
–  full text (to avoid unmanageable number of results, try limiting by date range and sorting results by relevancy)

Index to UN documents 
Index of UN documents from 1979-present, with links to full-text documents (where available). Searches only bibliographic information, not full text -- making it a good alternative when full-text searching on ODS, described above, retrieves too many documents.

UN treaties

United Nations Treaty Series
Text of multilateral and bilateral treaties registered with the United Nations from 1947-present.
Law Library microfiche collection JX170 .U35.

United Nations Treaty Database
Searchable database of PDF text of United Nations Treaty Series (described above) and database of current status of multilateral treaties (parties, reservations, etc.).
On order – check library catalog for status.

Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General: Status as at 31 December
Annual publication providing current status of multilateral treaties: parties, dates, reservations, etc.
On order – check library catalog for status.

UN courts & tribunals

International Court of Justice
Includes judgments (some older cases only available as summaries – for full text of those, see Westlaw INT-ICJ database), current docket, Statute of the Court, and Rules of Court.
International Court of Justice    Westlaw INT-ICJ database & Lexis
Full text of documents from 1947 - present. Incomplete coverage of judgments from most recent few years – see instead official ICJ web site listed above. 

International Criminal Court   
Court description, state parties, opinions, investigations, and news.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) 
Docket, judgments, legal documents, press releases, publications, etc.
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) – Westlaw databases
Cases = INT-ICTY database
Basic Legal Documents = INT-ICTY-BLD database
Press Releases = INT-ICTY-PR database
Combine cases, legal documents, press releases = INT-ICTY-ALL database

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) 
Docket, judgments, documents, press releases, etc.

Special Court for Sierra Leone
Cases, documents, press releases, audio and video files, etc.  


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UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL LAW

Treaties

Treaties in Force  – index and status of U.S. treaties
Lists treaties and other international agreements currently in force to which the US is a party.  Provides citations to full text of treaties in UST (bound treaty series) or TIAS (pamphlet treaty series) – but no direct access to full text.  (See “Text of U.S. Treaties” below for full text.)
Treaties in Force divided into two main sections:
Section 1: Bilateral treaties – listed by country or other international entity, with subject headings under each entry.
Section 2: Multilateral treaties to which the United States is a party – arranged by subject with a listing of the parties to that agreement.

Text of U.S. Treaties

Hein Online
Access through Law Library home page – from “Databases” link choose “Hein Online”; then select Treaties and Agreements Library. Provides scanned full text of treaties and agreements to which the US is a party.  Browse by UST or TIAS citation, which you can determine from Treaties in Force (described above).

Westlaw – USTREATIES database
Searchable full text of treaties to which the US is a party.

Miscellaneous

Restatement (Third) on the Foreign Relations Law of the United States
Available on Westlaw (REST-FOREL) and in print in the Law Library at KF4651 .A518 3d.

U.S. Department of State
Web site provides news and analysis on various international issues.

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REGIONAL SYSTEMS & OTHER COURTS

European Union – official gateway page
European Court of Justice

Council of Europe – official gateway page
European Court of Human Rights

Organization of American States – official gateway page 
Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

African Union – official gateway page

Iraqi Special Tribunal (statute)

Special Tribunal for Cambodia (draft agreement)

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BOOKS & JOURNALS

Books

The following books on international law are in the Law Library collection. For other specific titles, check library catalog.

  • Ian Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law (2003)
    Call number: JX3225 .B78 2003
  • Malcolm Shaw, International Law (2003)
    Call number: JX3275.S4 I57 2003
  • Thomas Buergenthal and Harold G. Maier, Public International Law in a Nutshell (2002)
    Call number: Reserve JX3091 .B84
  • Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Max Planck Institute)
    Call number: KZ1160 .E53 1992

Journals

Obviously, many articles dealing with international law are included in the Lexis and Westlaw journals databases.  Many other journals are available through Hein Online (International and Non-US Law Journals library).

  • International Legal Materials – this journal reprints the text of recent international law documents such as conventions, international tribunal judgments, resolutions, etc.
    Available in print in Law Library at JX68 .I5, on Hein Online, on Westlaw (ILM database), and on Lexis.

 

INTERNATIONAL LAW - RESEARCH WEBSITES

Not finding what you need? You might also try the following sites, which provide good starting points for public international law research.  Or talk to a research librarian.

 

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Last updated 3/07.