Foreign & Intern’l Legal Research Seminar (Law 623A) Roy L. Sturgeon, J.D., M.L.S., LL.M. (Chinese Law) Foreign & International Law Librarian, Library Liaison to the Public Advocacy Center, & Library Faculty February 19, 2009, 3:30-5:15pm, Rm. L308

Intern’l law Intern’l law is usually divided into two parts: public & private Public intern’l law governs relationships between nat’l governments, relationships between intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), & relationships between nat’l governments & IGOs Important: it regulates/binds nat’l governments & IGOs across nat’l boundaries

Intern’l law (cont.) Private intern’l law governs the choice of law to apply when there are conflicts in the municipal (i.e., nat’l) law of different nations related to private transactions between those nations Also known as “conflict of laws” Deals with contracts, marriage & divorce, jurisdiction, recognition of judgments, child adoption & abduction

Treaties Q: What are treaties? A: Agreements concluded between States (i.e., nations) in written form & governed by intern’l law Also known as accord, agreement, charter, constitution, convention, covenant, final act, memorandums of understanding, pact, protocol, statute Different names usually have no legal significance in intern’l law

Treaties (cont.) 2 types: 1. Bilateral (b/t 2 States or nations) 2. Multilateral (b/t more than 2 States or nations) * Those to which the US is a party (Art. VI of the US Constitution: “supreme Law of the Land”) ** Non-US treaties (e.g., Kyoto Protocol, Rome Statute)

Treaties (cont.) When researching treaties, you should find the treaty’s text in an authoritative source status & ratification info (i.e., is it still in force & with what States?) reservations (i.e., exclusions, modifications) or declarations (i.e., clarifications) background documents to help interpret its provisions (i.e., commentaries, judicial decisions, legislative history)

Treaties (cont.) Because full texts of treaties are generally published chronologically instead of by subject, check these indexes to find agreements on a specific topic: Treaties in Force (US Dept. of State) – Official index to current US treaties and agreements, section 1 lists bilateral treaties by country (& then subject), section 2 lists multilateral treaties by subject, library call # KZ235.T74 (2 nd floor), dex.htm dex.htm

Treaties (cont.) Guide to US Treaties in Force – Commercially published, provides extra ways to access current treaties, library call # KZ235.G85 (2 nd floor) US Treaty Index – Indexes by subject, date, & country, library call # KZ235.U (2 nd floor) World Treaty Index (current though 1999) –

Treaties (cont.) Sources containing full-text treaties: 1. United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) – Most comprehensive for modern treaties, official source, all treaties registered with the UN by member nations since 1946 in their original languages (as well as English & French translations), library call # JX170.U35 (microform, concourse level) 2. US Treaties and Other Intern’l Agreements (UST) – Official/permanent form of publication since 1950, but volumes are published after a long delay of more than 20 years

Treaties (cont.) 3. Treaties and Other Intern’l Acts Series (TIAS) – Preliminary series, issued in separately paginated pamphlets, more current than UST but still involves a time lag of more than 10 years 4. HeinOnline – Treaties & Agreements Library, United Nations Law Collection 5. LexisNexis – US Treaties on Lexis 6. Westlaw – US Treaties Commercial databases, among the most comprehensive & current collections of full-text treaties 7. WorldLII – Important: if you have access, then search on HeinOnline, LexisNexis, or Westlaw for full-text treaties first before searching in the books or WorldLII

Treaties (cont.) Background documents to help with interpreting and applying ambiguous provisions in treaties: Court decisions – Search LexisNexis &/or Westlaw’s US federal case database for the treaty name because neither KeyCite nor Shepard’s cover citations to treaties US legislative/congressional histories – THOMAS (coverage back to 1967): Senate Foreign Relations Committee (currently pending treaties):

Treaties (cont.) When unsure about treaty research, consult a free (& authoritative!) online research guide: GlobaLex – htm htm LLRX – Harvard Law Library – oreign/finding-treaty-citation--ils.html oreign/finding-treaties-no-citation--ils.html

Back to the basics 5 simple--but important--research rules: 1. Plan 2. Think time, money, & resources 3.When in doubt, get context 4. Find someone who has already done the work for you 5. Know when to stop

In conclusion... Effective attorneys are effective legal researchers Think of legal research as a way of empowering yourself. The better you are at researching, the more empowered you become Don’t ever be afraid of asking a librarian--at Touro or elsewhere--for help. Most will be glad to help you because they view it as central to what librarians do