Treaties (also calledcovenants, protocols, acquis, conventions, pacts or charters) are international agreements between states and/or international organizations. Treaties are primary sources of international law.
Conventional international law is based on consent of state parties and as such treatiesapplies only between those consenting parties. In determining treaty application,
- check to see which state parties have both signed and ratified the treaties
- watch for state party reservations, understandings and declarations which can transform that state's obligations.
Treaties only bind nonparties when they form the basis for customary international law. Customary International Law is formed when states consistently act in a certain way (state practice) out of a sense of legal obligation (opinio juris). Evidence of state practice includes domestic legislation, regulations, treaties, judicial decisions, diplomatic communications, NGO and IGO practice (for example General Assembly Resolutions and state voting practice). Look at judicial decisions and executive communications for evidence of opinio juris. A state may escape the application of customary international law by being a persistent objector.
A Video Overview of Treaty Research - Library of Congress (2023)
This webinar recording, by Library of Congress legal reference librarian Louis Myers, provides an introduction to resources and strategies to effectively research three distinct areas of treaty practice: U.S. bilateral treaties, foreign bilateral treaties, and multilateral treaties.
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Important Treaty Related Research Tasks
Understand Treaties Generally
Find Secondary Sources Explaining how to Interpret Treaty Law
Figuring out how to interpret treaties generally (Law of Treaties)
Before you examine the treaty, you should know what laws apply to treaty interpretation. Just as you need to understand contract law in a particular state in order to understand a particular contract. Treaty law also has it's own vocabulary, words have a particular meaning and you will need to understand the meaning of these words in order to understand how to interpret the treaty.
Findand AnalyzeSpecific Treaties
Find Status Information about the Treaty
With regard to your treaty, you may need to know:
- Who are the parties to the agreements (multilateral or bilateral), who has signed and who has ratified (agreed to be bound by) the treaty?
- What are the effective dates of the treaty?
- Have the parties made any reservations or declarations?
- Have there been any modifications or updates to the treaty?
If there is an official website for the treaty, as there are with many major treaties, this information is usually found on that website. Otherwise, you can check a Treaty Index, or a databasecontaining the full-text of the treaty.
Use a Treaty Index to get treaty information, including references to the full-text
This is a also a good option to find the full text if you have tried searching in full-text databases and retrieved too many irrelevant results.
Find the text of the treaty or agreement
Which source you will find most useful for locating the treaty text depends on what information you have about the treaty:
If you have a citation:
Use this source on HeinOnline if you only have a Treaty Citation but do not know the name or topic of the treaty
If you do not have a citation, but you know the topic, of your treaty, you have a few options to find your treaty.
If you know your topic and you know that the U.S. is a party, you can:
Use U.S. specific full-text treaty databases
If you know your topic and you know that the U.S. is a party, you can:
Use Worldwide (or Regional) full-text treaty databases and websites
These resources are searchable or browseable by topic.
Another option for finding U.S. Treaties, if you know the year that the treaty came into force:
Use Treaties and International Acts Series to Find U.S. Treaties by Year
Treaties used to found International Organizations are usually available on the official website for the organization.
Find Foundational Treaties Used to Establish an International Body
Find National Legislation Implementing the treaty or related to the treaty topic
Finding the legislation implemented by State parties in accordance with the treaty requirements or related to treaty issues
Frequently referred to as Domestic Implementing Legislation.
These sources, are often specific to a particular treaty or legal topic.
Find Judgments interpreting Treaties
Find Court Decisions Interpreting Treaties
FindTravaux préparatoires, to provide insight about the intent of the treaty negotiators
Travaux Préparatoires - Like Legislative History for Treaties
These are official records of a treaty negotiation. They are sometimes published. The travaux are often used to help clarifying the intentions of a treaty or other instrument.
Find Secondary Sources Analyzing a specific Treaty
Secondary Sources and Commentary on Specific Treaties
The official website for the treaty itself may provide a bibliography of the most valuable secondary sources and commentary on a specific treaty.
You can then use the UC Law SF Catalog or other databases to locate the desired publication, or to look for other relevant commentary.
