Locating International Decisions

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Locating International Decisions

• Margaret Clark
• Reference Librarian
• FSU College of Law Research Center
• October 2007

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Sources of International Law

• Article 38, Statute Establishing the ICJ
• Primary Sources
• International conventions
• International custom
• General principles
• Secondary Sources
• Judicial decisions
• Teachings of publicists

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Judicial Decisions

• Defined by Article 59, ICJ Statute as
• Decisions of international tribunals
• Decisions of national courts addressing
  international law
• Keep in mind
• Binding only on the parties
• Not precedential

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Decisions of International Courts

• Tools for finding cases
• Secondary Sources
• Digests
• Reporters Internet sites of specific courts
• Multinational sources
• Subject-specific compilations

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International Courts Digests

• World Court Digest
• HUDOC European Court on Human Rights Portal
• International Law Reports (ILR)

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International Courts Digests

• International Law Reports
• Available only in print
• Best source for full text opinions in English
• Best source for finding recent decisions
• ICJ
• International courts and tribunals
• Administrative Tribunal ILO
• National Courts
• From 1919 to present
• KZ 199.I58 (1st floor of Library)

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International Courts Internet sites

• International Court of Justice
• European Court of Justice
• Inter-American Court of Human Rights
• Special Court for Sierra Leone
• Many more listed in handout!

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International Courts Compiled Sources

• International Legal Materials
• Available in print and electronic
• Hein Online (use for browsing)
• Lexis, Westlaw (use for searching)
• Internet Table of Contents

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International Legal Materials (ILM)
In print / Westlaw / Lexis / Internet /
HeinOnline
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International Courts Compiled Sources

• Journals summarizing decisions
• American Journal of International Law
• European Journal of International Law
• Human Rights Law Journal

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International Courts Subject-specific
compilations

• Human Rights Cases (Westlaw, Lexis)
• International Trade Law Reports
• International Environmental Law Reports
• Global War Crimes Tribunal Collection

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Decisions of national courts

• Free Internet source
• Coverage varies among all courts
• Few courts go back to 1940s
• Most have cases from 1990s

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Decisions of national courts

• International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC)
  Database
• Available from Law Library List of Databases
• contains English translations from over 65
  jurisdictions
• Also contains scholarly commentary on important
  points of international law.
• Cases date back to 2000
• can be searched by country, keyword or full text
  search.

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Decisions of national courts

• Foreign Law Guide
• Not free
• Guide to foreign law sources
• International Legal Materials
• Library of Congress Nations of the World
• Free, Internet
• Browse by country

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Decisions of National Courts

• National yearbooks summarize cases
• African Yearbook on International Law
• British Yearbook on International Law
• Chinese Yearbook on International Law and Affairs
• Yearbook on United Nations Law

• Search online catalog under subject headings
• international law yearbooks
• international law yearbooks country

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Decisions of national courts

• Collections of court reports
• American International Law Cases
• British International Law Cases
• International decisions in U.S.
• American Law Reports, Federal
• West digest
• International Law 221
• Treaties 385

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Research Guides

• ASIL Research Guides - General
• Guide to Researching the ICJ Specific
• Cornell Legal Research Engine

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Cornell Legal Search Engine
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Project on International Courts and Tribunals
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Questions?