International Law - Research Guide
by Cheryl Gritton, Branch Librarian, Des Moines
Introduction / Meta Sites (Internet, Westlaw/Lexis) / Statutes / Case Law / Treaties /
Agencies / Treatises / Law Reviews / Blogs and News / Related Resources
International Law, as explored by this research guide, consists of three aspects. First, there are the relationships between countries as evidenced by their treaties, agreements, and diplomacy. There are secondly the legal systems, including laws and court decisions, of countries other than the United States. And third, there is an increasing body of international law being developed by international courts and tribunals. Documents from each aspect of international law are available here.
These meta sites are comprehensive sites that link to authoritative information available on the web. The hosts of the sites are world renowned institutions.
Internet sites:
The Law Library of Congress has three major databases for international legal research:
Multinational Reference Reference sources for nations and regions, constitutions, heads of state, legal guides, and general sources.
Global Legal Information Network Database of laws, regulations, judicial decisions and other legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations. Search here if you know specific information about a document.
Nations of the World An alphabetical guide to the nations of the world, their constitution, executive, judicial and legislative branches of government, and general sources.
World Legal Information Institute A site with 500 databases from 55 countries and 21 international databases.
Examples of search indexes are country, court or case, or subject.
Social Science Information Gateway
Law Gateway Access to global legal information resources on the internet. Identifies and evaluates legal resource sites offering primary and secondary materials and other items of legal interest. Search by jurisdiction, international law, or subject area.
Harvard Law Library Foreign and International Law Resources, an annotated guide to web sites around the world. This site has research tools, international laws, links to international organizations (IGOs) and foreign law guides, metapages, and indexes by country.
Westlaw & Lexis Meta Pages
Westlaw and Lexis have created international and multinational resource pages that link to numerous databases:
Westlaw:
International Law page
Multinational page - for courts, legislation, regulations, patents, organizations, law reviews, texts, law directories or news.
International/Worldwide Materials page - to enter Westlaw’s databases of materials primarily specific to other countries.
You can navigate to the pages above via the Directory , or search it for regions of the world, or navigate alphabetically by region for the proper database identifier.
Lexis:
Area of Law - By Topic – International Law for international case law, statutes, treaties and agreements, administrative materials and regulations, law reviews, treatises, news or law directories.
Treaties and International Agreements
Legal - Excluding U.S. - for a listing of materials available by country.
See Lexis’ Directory to navigate to more specific databases.
U.S. Code: 22 U.S.C. - Foreign Relations and Intercourse (Cornell’s LII)
U.S. Code Annotated; KF 62.5 .W45, available in all 8th Circuit Libraries
U.S. Code Service; KF 62 1972 .L38, available in all 8th Circuit Libraries except Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.
Project on International Courts and Tribunals PICT is the only internationally based effort to address all existing international courts and tribunals. Search each international court or tribunal for it’s basic documents, judge biographies, case law and bibliography.
Global Courts gives you access to Supreme Court decisions in 105 countries, or a way of finding the decisions. It is maintained by Chief Judge Stein Schjolberg, Moss District Court, Norway as part of a research project on the global implementation of Judicial Decisions Support Systems. It is non-commercial and is the basis of a vision of the worldwide exchange of jurisprudence. It also provides access to worldwide electronic case filing.
Political Database of the Americas contains links to the judicial branch of the countries in the Americas, organized by country, as well as reference materials about the judicial branches.
International Law - U.S. Federal Cases - Westlaw: FINT-CS Lexis: INTLAW;CASES
International Court of Justice Decisions - Westlaw: INT-ICJ Lexis: ALLICJ
Treaties and International Agreements Online by Oceanalaw, is a full-text, easily searchable database purchased by the 8th Circuit Library and available through the web page. You may use any information you have to search, a section of text, the title, primary or secondary subject, countries, parties or date.
Edwin Ginn Library Multilaterals Project is a project of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Multilateral treaties are arranged by subject, chronologically, and with a general search function.
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School, is a collection of documents of law, history and economics, politics, diplomacy, and government. It includes historical documents and treaties from pre-18th century through the 21st century. Look here for anything from The Barbary Treaties of 1816-1836 to September 11, 2001: Attack on America - A Collection of Documents.
Search Thomas, the legislative site of the Library of Congress, for current treaty status, beginning with the 94th Congress. Search by treaty number, word or phrase, type of treaty, or date transmitted to the Senate.
Also see Westlaw and Lexis links under Meta Sites above.
The following sites attempt to collect links to all intergovernmental agencies, however, none are truly complete. Check more than one if you are having trouble finding a link to the agency you need.
Union of International Associations, the online database of Yearbook of International Organizations. Search alphabetically, or by subject. The information comes from the organizations themselves and sources which cover the organizations activities.
University of Michigan Documents Center, International Agencies and Information on the Web. This comprehensive site of agencies begins with a list of other comprehensive IGO and NGO sites. It then continues with specific agencies listed alphabetically. These entries are annotated.
Northwestern University International Governmental Organizations is an alphabetical list of IGOs without annotation.
United Nations System of Organizations is the portal to web sites of the United Nations, it’s funds, programs and specialized agencies. Search alphabetically or by subject.
Selected Specific Agency Web Sites
U.S. Dept of State main web page.
U.S. Dept of State electronic archives, information from 1990-1997.
European Union main web page in English.
Organization of American States main web page in English
The United Nations main web page in English.
World Trade Organization main web page.
Electronic Embassy provides links to embassies web pages.
These treatises are available in the 8th Circuit Library. Please see the Library Catalog for additional titles.
Dictionaries:
Dictionary of International and Comparative Law, 3rd edition; (Fox) KZ 1161 .F69 2003, located in Fargo.
Modern dictionary of International Legal Terms; ( Lindbergh)K 54 .L5 1993, located in Lincoln and Omaha.
International Legal Research:
Germain’s Transnational Law research: A Guide for Attorneys; (Germain) K 85 .G47 1991, located in Des Moines.
Contemporary Practice of Public International Law; (Schaffer and Snyder) KZ 1234 .C66 1997, located in St. Louis
Introduction of International Organizations; (Louis-Jacques and Korman)JX 1954 .I57 1996, located in St. Louis.
International Human Rights Law: A Resource Guide; (Hall) K 3238 .H34 1993, located in Des Moines, Fargo, Lincoln, Little Rock, Minneapolis, St Louis, St Paul
Specific Subject Areas:
International Law Decisions in National Courts, (Franck), KF 4581 .I58 1996, located in Des Moines
International Insolvency, (Bufford), K 1370 .I68 2001, located in Des Moines, Kansas City, Lincoln, Minneapolis, St Louis, St Paul
International Business Transactions, (Folsom), KF 1976 .F65 1995, located in Des Moines
International Business Transactions in a Nutshell (Folsom), K 3943 .W54 1992, located in Minneapolis
International Child Custody: Handling Hague Convention cases in U. S. Courts, (Garbolino), K 707 .G37 2000, located in St Louis, St Paul
Transnational Criminal Organizations, Cybercrime, and Money Laundering: A handbook for law enforcement officers, auditors, and financial investigators, (Richards) HV 6768 .R53 1999, located in Kansas City, St Louis
International Criminal Law, (Bassiouni) K 5165 .I58 1999, located in Des Moines
International Prisoner Transfer, (Abbell) KF 9225 .A915 2001, located in Des Moines
International Extradition, (Bassiouni) KF 9635 .B37 2002, located in Des Moines, St Louis
Introduction to Transnational Legal Transactions, (Raisch), K7615.4 .I58 1995, located in St Louis
Principles of Trade Law: the World Trade Organization, (American Law Institute), K 4600 . P74 2003, located in Kansas City
Combined Law Review Databases:
Hein On Line International and Non-U.S. Law Journals
Westlaw: INT-TP International Law - Law Reviews, Texts and Bar Journals
Lexis: INTLAW;INTLR International Law Review Articles
Selected Law Reviews
American Journal of Comparative Law
Westlaw: AMJCL Lexis: LAWREV;AJCOMP
American Journal of International Law,
Westlaw: AMJIL Lexis: LAWREV;AJIL
American University International Law Review
Westlaw: AMUILR Lexis: LAWREV;AUILR
Brooklyn Journal of International Law
Westlaw: BKNJIL Lexis: LAWREV;BJINTL
Columbia Journal of Transnational Law
Westlaw: CLMJTL Lexis: LAWREV;COLJTL
Cornell International Law Journal
Westlaw: CNLILJ Lexis: LAWREV;CORINT
Fordham International Law Journal, JX1 .F57, located in St Louis
Westlaw: FDMILJ Lexis: LAWREV;FILJ
Harvard International Law Journal
Westlaw: HVILJ Lexis: LAWREV;HRVILJ
International Lawyer
Westlaw: INTLLAW Lexis: LAWREV;INTLAW
Michigan Journal of International Law
Westlaw: MIJIL Lexis: LAWREV;MJIL
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Westlaw: VNJTL Lexis: LAWREV;VJTL
Virginia Journal of International Law
Westlaw: VAJIL Lexis: LAWREV;VAJIL
Washington University Global Studies Law Review, K 27 .A823, located in St. Louis; Westlaw: WAUGSLR Lexis: LAWREV;WUGSLR
Yale Journal of International Law
Westlaw: YJIL Lexis: LAWREV;YJIL
Ginn Weblog from the Edwin Ginn Library at The Fletcher School
Oxford University Comparative Law Forum
International Law Society Blog from the International Law Society, University of Iowa, College of Law
Project on International Courts and Tribunals, latest news
ASIL Insights International law issues raised by newsworthy, late breaking events
International Law in Brief Analytical abstracts of and links to significant primary documents relating to contemporary developments in international law.
American Society of International Law
ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law
EISIL: The Electronic Information system for International Law
Guide to Researching Foreign Law on the Internet
Washburn University School of Law Library
Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
United Nations Documentation: Research Guide
LLRX.com International Law Guides
Created October 2005