Advanced International Law Research Seminar
Finding Books
Use the Hastings Classic Catalog or Encore to find books on your topic. If you find a book that looks interesting, and you are not on campus, click on the call number to browse titles on the shelf nearby. Of course, if you are on campus, browsing the shelves is a great way to find relevant books.
If the book you want isn't in the Hastings Law Library, or you would like to locate other books on your topic, use FirstSearch. From the FirstSearch webpage select "WorldCat", an online database containing information about books from most of the libraries in the English-speaking world. When you find a book you want, click on the "ILL" icon at the top of the page, and request that the book be borrowed for you through our inter-library loan department.
Finding Articles
Full-Text Law Reviews (Lexis/Westlaw):
Search Lexis full-text law reviews AND Westlaw full-text law reviews. Although there is a lot of overlap, you should search both Lexis and Westlaw since their databases include many different articles. [This search will cover most of the law review articles written since the mid-1990s.]
Other Full-Text
Law Reviews & Non-Law Journals (NOT Lexis/Westlaw):
If you have
a citation to an law review article that is not on Westlaw or Lexis (and is older
than the last year or two), you will probably be able to print a PDF version
of the article from Hein
On Line.
If you have found an article in an index or mentioned in a bibliography, and would like to know where you can access a full-text version, start with Hastings Law Library's e-journal finder. This includes 1000's of law and non-law journals.
Index Searches:
Index to Legal Periodicals:
Search Index to Legal Periodicals and Books on Westlaw (ILP) OR the Index
to Legal Periodicals & Books. [This search will cover many
more articles than the full-text law review search above, since
this index include almost every law review article written in the
United States since 1980.] If articles on your topic may have been
published prior to 1980, then make sure you search the historical
version of Index
to Legal Periodical and Books. You can search for articles
back to 1918 by selecting "Legal Periodicals Retro." [Note: The
retrospective index covering 1918-1980 is available only on this
subscription database and not on the Lexis or Westlaw versions mentioned
above.]
LegalTrac:
Search Legal Resource
Index on Lexis (LAWREV:LGLIND) OR Westlaw (LRI) OR the LegalTrac Internet database. [This search will include a few additional
journal articles that you won't be able to find using ILP (above).]
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals:
If articles
on your topic may have been published in a foreign legal journal, then
you may want to search Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. This database is updated quarterly
and covers 1985 to present. If you need to locate articles published prior
to 1985, Hastings has the print Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (1960 - present) in the 4th Floor Reading Room.
Non-law indexes and journal finders:
If an article you have found is not in a law-related journal, and
not in one of the non-law online
resources at Hastings, you may want to search the online databases
collection at the San Francisco Public Library. You can check to
see if the journal issue you want is accessible from one of the
databases provided by the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL), by
searching their Periodical
Finder. Or you can search through the various SFPL
journal indexes. Any resident of California may apply for a
SFPL Library card to get online full-text access.
Working Papers & Unpublished Articles:
Legal Scholarship Network:
Search the online Legal Scholarship Network. This is a searchable database of abstracts of working-papers as well as articles accepted for publication.
Online Resources
Subscription Databases:
The Hastings Law Library subscribes to a number of Internet-accessible resources that may be useful in your research. All of our online resources are listed here. You can access all of them on campus. Most of them also allow remote access. If you are not on campus, and you click on the database, you will be directed to this screen. To use the database off-campus, enter your name as indicated on your Hastings ID and your ID barcode number.Free Internet Resources:
Many other useful online foreign and international law resources are listed on this class webpage. Many of them are listed in the "Int'l Law Research" section, while others are listed with the subject-specific resources.
Ask A Librarian
The reference librarians at Hastings are available to help you plan your research strategy and to help you find the resources that might be useful in writing your final class paper. If you want to meet to discuss your research or have question about international law research, send an email to
, Int'l & Foreign Law Librarian.
International & Foreign Law Research
Books on Scholarly Writing:
Here are two books that might be
helpful when you start thinking about writing your paper. They both include information about choosing a topic, writing &
editing your paper, and getting your paper published: Scholarly Writing for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, and Law Review Competition Papers, by Elizabeth Fajans and Mary R. Falk (3rd ed. 2005) [See description on publisher's website]
Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review, by Eugene Volokh (2d ed. 2005) [See author's website]
International Law Sources:
Here is a short list of some of the best
international law resources:
Columbia International Affairs Online
EISIL - The Electronic
Information System for International Law (EISIL) is an excellent
place to start your international law research.
ASIL Guide - Electronic Resources for International law maintained by ASIL.
International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook K85 .H64 2008 (5th Stacks)
Guide
to International Legal Research - KZ1234.G85 (Reference Desk)
European Union - Europa, EU
Court of Justice, EUR-Lex, N-Lex, Official Journal.
GlobaLex - An excellent collection of international law guides maintained
by NYU Law.
LLRX - Excellent
collection of international law research guides.
Law Library of
Congress - Includes the Global
Legal Monitor & the Guide
to Law Online.
LII - Cornell
Legal Information Institute's collection of world legal materials.
Max Planck encyclopedia of public international law
Foreign Law Sources:
Here is a short list of some of the best
foreign law resources.
Introduction to Chinese Law
Foreign
Law Guide - Subscription database; Useful for learning about
laws of various countries.
GlobalCourts.com
GlobaLex: Foreign Law Guides (NYU)
Government Gazettes (Univ. of Michigan)
Hastings
Foreign Law Internet Links
iSinoLaw - Subscription database; Comprehensive source of current legal information for the People's
Republic of China. Includes authoritative English translations of
statutes, judicial interpretations, cases, & arbitration awards.
Also includes secondary sources, weekly updates, and legal news.
Jurist: World Law
LawTel - Subscription database; Includes current United Kingdom and European
Union articles, a collection of UK and EU practice materials, case
law, proposed and adopted legislation, treaties, commission reports
and notices.
LLRX: Country Guides
Locating Key Foreign & International Law Sources
Nations of the World (Lib. of Congress)
Selected
Foreign Laws (Univ. of Chicago)
World Legal Information Institute
LawInfoChina
Finding Treaties
Hastings Law Library
Legal Research Guide: Finding Treaties
Treaties
and International Agreements Online - This Internet database may
be the best place to search for the full-text of treaties. (It is
available only on campus.)
United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) - This Internet database
includes a full-text
search of treaties and includes other
UNTS databases as well. (Available only from computers on campus.)
HeinOnline Treaties and Agreements Library
Council
of Europe Treaties
Multilaterals
Project - Human rights treaties and conventions
Some treaty databases available on Lexis:
-- Treaties
and Agreements from ILM - treaties and international agreements
from International Legal Materials, January 1975 through
current.
-- US
Treaties on LEXIS - contains over 14,000 documents from 1776
through current.
-- Native
American People Treaties - Archival material from 1787 through
1883.
Some treaty databases available on Westlaw:
-- US
Treaties and Other International Agreements - Complete full-text
coverage of international and Native American treaties to which
the United States is a party from 1778 to present.
-- United
Kingdom Human Rights International Treaties - Treaties from
1950 to current.
United Nations Research
United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) - This Internet database
includes a full-text
search of treaties and includes other
UNTS databases as well. (Available only from computers on campus.)
United Nations
World Wide Web Homepage - While many of the UN documents you need
will be available online, for those hard-to-locate documents you may
need to use the Hastings UN micrographics collection. (Ask a Reference
Librarian for assistance, micrographic items must be paged for you.)
United Nations
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Homepage
United Nations
High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR) Homepage - Includes a great research
page with a collection of full-text databases representing the
most comprehensive and reliable refugee information available on the
Internet.
United Nations Internet Resources
United Nations Resolutions
Index to United Nations Documents and Publications - This CD-ROM contains an index to UN documents from 1946 to present. Once you find the UN document number using this index, you can locate the full-text online, in print, or on microfiche. The CD is kept at the circulation desk and must be used on the computers across from the reference desk. Most UN documents from 1981-present are available in the Readex UN Law Library Microfiche Collection filed at JZ5010 .U57 (ask a Reference Librarian for assistance, items must be paged for you). The CD also includes selected full-text resolutions from the General Assembly.
International Labour Organization
International
Labour Organisation
NATLEX is a continuously-updated database containing references to over 55,000
national laws on labour, social security, and related human rights,
with over 300 laws in full text. Records and texts in NATLEX are in
either English, French, or Spanish. Search by country or subject.
Judgments of the Administrative Tribunal of the International
Labour Organisation
K1704.23 .J83 (5th Stacks - LIB USE ONLY)
International Criminal Court (ICC) / International Court of Justice (ICJ) / Special International Tribunals
INTERNATIONAL
COURT OF JUSTICE
International
Court of Justice (ICJ website)International Court of Justice (ICJ research guide)
INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT
The International
Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent court capable of
trying individuals accused of the most serious violations of international
humanitarian and human rights law, namely genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes. The treaty that established the ICC, the
Rome Statute, entered into force on July 1, 2002, and provisional
headquarters for the Court were opened shortly thereafter. Visit
the Coalition for the International
Criminal Court webpage to read recent documents, press releases,
and fact sheets.The Legislative History of the International Criminal Court, by Cherif M. Bassiouni
KZ6312 .L44 2005 (6th Stacks)
SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Special Court for Sierra Leone
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
East Timor Special Panels for Serious Crimes
The Indonesian Ad Hoc Court Tribunal for East Timor
International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg
UC Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center
EISIL: International Criminal Law
Global War Crimes Tribunal Collection
KZ1190 .G56 1997 (6th Stacks)
[Includes background information, documents, and cases from the Yugoslav & Rwanda tribunals.]
International Courts and Tribunals: selected documents and materials
KZ6250 .I57 1999 (6th Stacks)
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
KZ1201.A12 M67 1998 (6th Stacks)
The International Tribunal for Rwanda: facts, cases, documents
KZ1201.A12 I59 1999 (6th Stacks)
Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission
KZ1174 .L39 1997 (6th Stacks) (Also available on microfiche)
Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuremberg, October 1946-April, 1949
D804.G42 A2 (6th Stacks)
International Environmental Law
Research
Guide - International Environmental Law Bibliography
ECOLEX: A
Gateway to Environmental Law
United Nations Environment
Programme - With information on the UNEP
Coral Reef Unit, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),
the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS),
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
Human Rights
Hastings Law Library
Legal Research Guide: Human Rights
Researching international Refugee Law
European
Court of Human Rights
European
Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights Cases (on Lexis)
European
Human Rights Reports (on Westlaw)
European Union Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2010
Cases and Materials on the European Convention on Human
Rights
KJE5132 .M68 2001 (6th stacks)
European Human Rights Case Locator 1960-2000
KJE5132.A36 M46 2000 (6th stacks - LIB USE ONLY)
European Human Rights Case Summaries 1960-2000
KJE5132.A7 M46 2002(6th stacks - LIB USE ONLY)
Leading cases of the European Court of Human Rights
KJC5132.A52 L42 1997 (6th stacks)
The
Inter-American Human Rights Database contains documents in English
and Spanish adopted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
since its first session in 1960.
Inter-American
Court of Human Rights
Inter-American Yearbook of Human Rights
KDZ574.A85 I68 (5th stacks)
[Includes documents and cases from the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights & the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (in English
& Spanish).]
International Trade & Arbitration
BNA
International Trade Reporter - [Note: To access this database
off-campus, you are required to authenticate that you are a Hastings
student by entering your name and the barcode number from your Hastings
ID card.] The weekly report service provides comprehensive, current
information on developments affecting the trade and international
business policies of the US and major US trading partners. It includes
the latest news and trends in US trade policy, including regulatory,
legislative, and judicial developments, activities of the International
Trade Commission, Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce,
World Trade Organization, and European Union. Each week there is
usually a "Country Checklist" for China. Hastings students who want
to receive a free weekly email update with the contents of this
report should sign-up here,
then click on "BNA news services."
WorldTradeLaw.net provides access to primary source documents related to international
trade law, including a full-text search engine for GATT/WTO decisions.
It also provides analyses of certain trade law issues through the
"Dispute Settlement Commentary" subscription service. This Commentary
includes summary and analysis of all new WTO Panel and Appellate
Body reports within 1-3 weeks after they are circulated to the WTO
Members. [Access limited to Hastings faculty, staff & students.]
World Trade Organization - Official WTO website
NYU
Law Library WTO and GATT Research
Hastings
Research Guide to International Commercial Arbitration
Updated January 30, 2012
Prepared by
Foreign Comparative & International Law Librarian