Source: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/dynamic/guide.php?id=59
Timestamp: 2017-06-25 10:33:26
Document Index: 585464761

Matched Legal Cases: ['art. 4', 'art. 1', 'art. 19', 'art. 35', 'art. 35', 'HUDOC ', '§ 55']

International and Foreign Law Source Collecting
International and Foreign Law Source CollectingGetting Started
If possible, have a copy of the article and your source collection list handy. Sometimes using only the source collection list is confusing and the article text can help decipher what you need to collect.
You also need to be able to read citations. Citations to sources come in all sorts of formats. There are many examples listed in each step below, but this is a general breakdown.
Basics of citation: [volume number] abbreviation of source [page number]
Segev, Who Needs a Constitution? In Defense of the Non-decision
Constitution-Making Tactic in Israel, 70 Alb.
L. Rev. 409 (2007).
author’s name, title of article, [volume number] abbreviation of journal [page on which article begins] [page that contains cited information] (year of publication)
Treaty:Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Mar. 20, 1952, 213 U.N.T.S. 262.
name of treaty, date of signing, [volume number] abbreviation of source [first page of the treaty]
When source collecting for a law journal article, you should be aware of some general sources.
LawCat (Law Library's online catalog; use to locate books and journals).
List of other catalogs, including OskiCat, Melvyl, or FirstSearch at Libraries and Catalogs.
International & Foreign Law Research Guides (covering a variety of topics: treaties, foreign law, human rights, etc.; good for late night guidance on locating sources).
(UN Treaty Collection, Constitutions of the Countries of the World,
etc.; a list of databases is available on the Law Library's website). Reference librarians are available in the Law Library. You can also come by Marci's office (218 Boalt) or send an email.
following steps outline the process for locating international and
foreign legal sources. Keep in mind that this is general guidance and
may not work for every source. Step 1: Review Sources
all of the sources you need to collect and break them down into
categories. Check the article when a citation is unclear. Primary Sources
Treaties and international agreements Foreign law (statutes and case law)
International case law Documents from inter-governmental organizations (IGOs - UN, EU, WTO) Secondary Sources Books Articles (law and law-related)
Reports and documents from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Other For more information on primary and secondary sources in international and foreign law, see the Sources of Law handout.
Step 2: Abbreviations Decipher abbreviations used in citations. Translate the abbreviations by using one or a combination of these sources. If none of these sources work, ask for assistance.
Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (6th ed., 2009)
The 5th ed. is available on LexisNexis (Legal > Reference > Law > Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations). The Bluebook: A Uniform Style of Citations (19th ed., 2010) In particular, see the Tables.
Noble's International Guide to the Law Reports (2002)
Good for case reporters for many different jurisdictions. World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (1991-). Arranged by language (German, Spanish, etc.) and by subject. Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
Covers many international and foreign legal sources.
Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations (2nd ed., 2009); available at Reference Desk. International Citation Manual
Step 3: International Legal Sources
Locate the international legal sources.
Treaties & International Agreements If you have a citation to the treaty, interpret the abbreviation and go directly to the source (search LawCat by the title of the source). If you need a citation, try searching EISIL or consult Frequently-Cited Treaties and Other International Instruments (includes a quick list of abbreviations and sources for treaties). Consult some of the following databases, available from the Library's alphabetic list of databases
UN Treaties on HeinOnline -- a much better way to locate UN treaties.
U.S. Treaties and International Agreements (if US is a party) Treaties and Agreements Library (HeinOnline) (if US is a party)
Both LexisNexis and Westlaw have collections of US treaties
If you have citations, you can go directly to the print sources or the electronic equivalents.
L.N.T.S. = League of Nations Treaty Series U.S.T. = United States Treaties and Other International Agreements U.N.T.S. = United Nations Treaty Series I.L.M. = International Legal Materials (also available on Hein Online, LexisNexis & Westlaw) Example 1: Geneva Convention (III) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, art. 4(2), Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 135.
Since you have the U.N.T.S. citation, you can locate it on HeinOnline using this citation.
If you didn't a citation to this treaty, you can locate it easily by checking Frequently-Cited Treaties and Other International Instruments. From here, you can access the text of the treaty as well as a good citation.
Hague Convention (V) Respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons during War on Land, art. 1. Oct 18, 1907.
Search on EISIL using the advanced search mechanism
and search "American Convention on Human Rights" as a phrase. Click on the box that says"more information" and you will find a link to the convention as well as citation information. Example 3:
Eur. Soc. Chtr, Oct. 18, 1961, Council of Eur., art. 19, C.E.T.S. 035.
From the citation, you know this is a treaty from the Council of Europe and it's published in the European Treaty Series/ The best place to go is the Council of Europe treaty website.Go to the complete list and look for treaty no. 35.
For more assistance locating the text of treaties, see Researching Treaties and International Agreements. U.N. Documents
you have a U.N. document number (cited as "U.N. Doc. A/CONF...]"), try
locating the document by using the following websites: Official Document Service (ODS)
Official UN documents from 1993; also provides access to the
resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and
Social Council and the Trusteeship Council from 1946 onwards. Documents
are available in PDF. UNBISnet Can search by keywords and UN document numbers; coverage is from 1979 onwards. Some full-text documents are available. UN Documentation Centre A good source for UN resolutions and other selected documents. International Law page on the UN website
See rule 21.7 and Table 3 of The Bluebook for help deciphering UN abbreviations. Example 1:
UNSC Resolution 808 (1993), S/RES/808(808), 22 Feb. 1993. This is a UN Security Council resolution and all of these are available at UN Documentation Centre. Also available by searching UNBISnet or ODS.
Note that "(808)" is incorrect. Example 2:
UNHCR, Exec. Comm., Note on International Protection, U.N. Doc. A/AC.96/951 (Sept. 13, 2001)..
Use te document symbol, A/AC.96/951 to locate the document on ODS. Select "simple search" and type in the number in the "symbol" field. The document is also available on the UNHCR REFWORLD website by type of document. Example 3: Draft articles
on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, International Law Commission, art. 35.
Google this information, without the art. 35.
A result should be the page from ILC website on state reponsibility and there is a link to the Draft articles in English.
For more assistance with locating UN documents, see Researching the United Nations. European Union Materials
For EU (EC or EEC) citations, try the following sites:
Eur-LexEU Law portal which provides access to the Official Journal (OJ), COM documents, and more.
Both LexisNexis and Westlaw have EU collections.
See rule 21.9 and Table 3.3 of The Bluebook fo rhelp deciphering EU citations and materials.
Council Regulation 44/2001 of Dec. 22, 2000 on Jurisdiction And The Recognition and Enforcement And Enforcement Of Judgments And Commercial Matters, 2001 O.J. (L12).
Start with Eur-Lex.
Search by document number: select "regulation"; 2001 is te year; 44 is the number.
This search produces 11 hits, select no. 11 -- select the "bibliographic record" and you will have all of the information you need plus a link to the PDF.
Council of the European Union, Council Conclusions On The Communication From The Commission To The European Parliament And The Council – A Comprehensive Approach On Personal Data Protection In The European Union, Feb. 24-25, 2011.
The author points to this website -- www.consilium.europa.eu.
Select "Documents" from the top bar.
Search for the title of the document in the Register. International Case Law
If you have a citation to a case, decipher the abbreviation and go directly to the source by searching LawCat
by the title of the source. Otherwise, try the website of the
international court of tribunal. To locate the website of the court or
tribunal, try EISIL or WorldLII's International Courts & Tribunals Project. We subscribe to several databases that provide access to internationcal case law:
International Law Reports (ILR) (UCB only)
Oxford Reports on International Law (UCB only)
Investment Claims (UCB only)
Example 1: Middle East Cement Shipping and Handling Co. S.A. v. Arab Republic of Egypt, ICSID Case No. ARB/99/6, Award (12 Apr. 2002) ¶107.
Start with the ICSID website and select Search Cases from the left site of the page.
Click on "advanced search options" and search by case no. - ARB/99/6. Since this is a pending case, there is no other information to access.
Example 2: Factory at Chorzów (Germany v. Poland), P.C.I.J. Series A. No. 17, at 47 (1928).. Start by determining what P.C.I.J. means. Use one of the sources noted above for determining abbreviations in citations. This is the set called Permanent Court of International Justice.
You want series A of the set that publishes the PCIJ decisions, Publications of the Permanent Court of International Justice, Series A/B. The recordon LawCat provides information about the print and a link to the collection on HeinOnline.
The cases are also available on the ICJ website. Example 3: Byrzykowski v. Poland, ECHR Judgment of
June 27, 2006, ¶¶ 124, 127.
From the context of the article or by using a source for abbreviations, determine what ECHR means -- European Court of Human Rights. Google or use EISIL to go to the Court's HUDOC database and search for the case. Search by the name of the case, Byrzykowski v. Poland, in the "Case Title" field. See Rule 21 of the Bluebook on citing cases from this court. Example 4:
In re: Bodil Lindqvist, Case C-101/01 (Euro. Ct. of Justice Nov. 6, 2003).
This is a case from the European Court of Justice.
Go to the Court's website and search by the case number -- C-101/01.
The Court's website doesn't provide the citation to the official report (E.C.R.) as required by the Bluebook. You can get the citation from the print, Eur-Lex, Lexis or Westlaw.
Dadar v. Can., Comm. No. 258/2004 (Comm. Ag. Torture, Dec. 5, 2005). [Note: 258/2004 is not a UN document number.]
This is a case from the UN Treaty Body, Committee Against Torture (CAT). Jurisprudence from all such treaty bodies are available on the Treaty Bodies Database, UNHCHR website.
Select the treaty (CAT); the country (Canada); the type of document (jurisprudence); and document (258).
The Minnesota Human Rights Library also has this jurisprudence.
Step 4: Foreign Legal Sources
Locate foreign legal sources (non-U.S. materials) Use Foreign Law Guide for information about the jurisdiction and sources. See the sources noted in Step 2 for help with foreign law citations. See also The Bluebook can help with information on selected jurisdictions, see Table 2.
There are many electronic sources for foreign law. Some of the best and easiest to use are the Legal Information Institutes through the Free Access to Law Movement, such as CANLII, AUSTLII and BAILII. Research guides for the jurisdiction can also be helpful in locating sources, see Globalex or A Selective List of Guides to Foreign Legal Research. Constitutions, Statutes & Codes
Consitution, Mar. 13, 1973
You need to look at the text of the article to determine the country in question.
Use Constitutions of the Countries of the World, available in print and from the databases page on the law library's website. Contains English language versions of constitutions. Depending on the date of the constitution, see also World Constitions Illustrated, available on HeinOnline.
Asylum Act, 2005.
You need to look at the text of the article to determine the country in question. The UNHCR REFWORLD website is a good place for locating national legislation on refugee related topics, like asylum, immigration, aliens, etc. Select the country from the drop-down box; click on type of document and select national legislation; you can use the filter to search for "asylum."
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, c.11, § 55(1)(a).
From the text of the article, this is a British act.
One of the best sources for UK British law is called BAILII.
Select Legislation Search and enter the name of the act. Case Law
Some national case law may be available on the web or in journal literature. Keep in mind that case law can be difficult to obtain and may not be available in English.
N. Kesbir & Min. Immigr. & Integr., LJN: AQ5615, Raad van State, 200402639/1 and 200402651/1 (Council St., Neths., July 23, 2004) reprinted at ILDC 144 (NL 2004).
ILDC is the abbreviation for a subscription database available from Oxford Reports on International Law
(UCB only). It stands for International Law in Domestic Courts. Select "advanced search"; choose ILDC module from the list; and type 144
HCJ 246/81 Agudat Derech Eretz v. Broadcasting
Authority 35(4) P.D. 1 (1981) (Isr.).
This case is from the Israeli High Court of Justice Table 2 of The Bluebook explains how to read this citation.
The source is Piske Din (PD) which is only available in Hebrew. For Israeli cases, see the Court's database. The best way to search is by case number (drop the CA or
HCJ) or by name of the case. English translations are often available.
For further assistance with researching non-US law, see Researching Foreign and Comparative Law. Step 5: Books and Journal Articles
Locate books and journal articles. Search for books and journals by using library catalogs, in the following order: LawCat (the Law Library's catalog) Melvyl (UC campus libraries, including the Law Library (although no records since July 2007), good for locating electronic versions on non-law journals) OskiCat (UC Berkeley libraries, does not include the Law Library) FirstSearch: WorldCat (libraries around the globe, good for determining if a title exists and which library owns it)
by author or title first and then try keyword searching. Keyword
searches can include author names, editor names, or words from the
title. Sometimes citations in articles are incorrect so always check
the title by doing a keyword search. Drop initial articles when
searching by title. Collect
the books and check them out using one of the journal library cards. If
not available locally, initiate retrieval requests since these can take
several weeks. See the Reference Librarians for assistance with
borrowing books from other libraries. Many books may not be in the law library because of the topic of the book. Be sure to check Melvyl or OskiCat. Book Chapters Example 1:
Refugees, in RUDOLF BERNHARDT, DIR., 4 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW
72, 73 (2001).
The clue here is the word in — you cannot look up the chapter, you must search the title of the book. Use LawCat to look up the title of the book and locate it in the library.
Books Example 1: 1 J.B. Moore, Digest of International Law 107-108
Look up the title on LawCat. You need volume 1 and it's available on HeinOnline, which is linked in the LawCat record.
Joel Migdal, Weak States,
Strong Societies 22-23 (1988).
This book is not available in our collection. Search OskiCat to locate the book on campus.
Legal Journals Search
LawCat by title for law reviews and other legal journals. The catalog
record will indicate if the law review or journal is also available on
HeinOnline or another electronic database. The catalog does not
indicate if something is available on LexisNexis or Westlaw. Not all
journals are available in electronic form. Sometimes
you will need to verify a citation because the citation information is
incomplete, incorrect or you need to decipher an abbreviation. Use one
of the journal indexes to get accurate information: Index to Legal Periodicals and Books Law Library's website Law Journal Databases
LexisNexis or Westlaw Legal Resource Index Law Library's website (listed as LegalTrac) Law Journal Databases
LexisNexis or Westlaw Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals Law Library's website Law Journal Databases
Legal Journal Index Westlaw Searches for the abbreviation or the source in full-text journals on both Lexis and Westlaw can also be useful. Example 1:
Aaron Xavier Fellmeth, Below-Market Interest in International Claims Against States, 13 J. Int’l Econ. L. 423, 431-34 (2010).
Using LawCat, search the title of the journal.
This article may also be availble full-text on Lexis and Westlaw.
Cohen Smutny, Some
Observations on the Principles relating to Compensation in the Investment
Treaty Context, 22 ICSID—FOR.
INV. L.J. 1,
9 (2007).. This is the ICSID Review (the FILJ stands for "foreign investent law journal"). Search LawCat for the title and get the call number for this -- it's only available in print.
C.F. Amerasinghe, Issues of Compensation for the Taking of Alien Property in the Light of Recent Cases and Practice, 41 I.C.L.Q. 22, 64 (1992).
Use the Cardiff website to determine what I.C.L.Q. means -- International & Comparative Law Quarterly.
Once you have the title, look it up on LawCat. Also available on Lexis and Westlaw.
Non-Legal Journals Melvyl is a good source for locating non-law journals. See also the E-Journal Titles A-Z list. Example 1:
David Ben-Gurion and the British Constitutional
Model, 3 Isr.
Studies 193-214 (1998).
Search the title of the journal on the E-Journal Titles A-Z and get access to the electronic version of the journal. Example 2:
Explaining the Constitutionalization of the
European Union, 13 J.
Eur. Pub. Pol. 1148 (2006). Search LawCat by the tile "European Public Policy Journal" and you will get links to several electronic databases for the journal.
You can also search for the title on the E-Journal Titles A-Z list. Working Papers & Other Reports and Documents
María-Teresa Gil-Bazo, Refugee status, subsidiary protection, and the right to be granted asylum under EC law, New Issues in Refugee Research, Research Paper No. 136 (Nov. 2006). Many research papers are available on SSRN. Go to this site and search for the name of the author or the title. You should include a link to SSRN in the citation, see Bluebook rule 17.4.
If the paper is not on SSRS, try searching the title of the paper or the paper series using Google.
Example 2: J. McAdam, Humane Rights: The Refugee Convention as a Blueprint for Complementary Protection Status, paper presented at Moving On: Forced Migr. & Hum Rts. Conf., NSW Parl. House (Nov. 22, 2005).
This looks like something from a conference. Try searching for it using Google. Note: searches work better if you take out the punctuation and use quotation marks around the title of the material. Abbreviations don't always work well, so spell out the words.
Documents from NGOs
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have websites where they provide
access to their documentation and reports. If it is a recent document,
start with the organization's website.
Step 6: Electronic Sources
sources are acceptable, but be sure to use
the best electronic version possible. Transcripts and press conferences
generally do not have print equivalents. Also, it's helpful to search
google using the advanced search
mechanism. By using this search option, you can limit your searches to
a specific domain. See the bottom of the search screen where it says
"Search within a site or domain." Step 7: Newspaper Articles
Locate newspaper articles on LexisNexis, Westlaw or the web. If not available on one of these databases, try UCB Electronic Resources (look up by Type > News Databases).
Available on Lexis and Westlaw.
Also available through UCB E-Journals. Many
of the newspaper articles cited in the articles you are checking are
from foreign language newspapers, so do not expect an English
Step 8: Copying (Scanning & Downloading)
If the source cannot be checked out (journals, treaties, cases), copy what you need. It's good practice to copy the title page or jot down the name and date of the source on the copy. Some Cite Checking Tips
Since The Bluebook is not always adequate for citing international and foreign legal
materials, use the examples as models. Be sure to include enough
information so that someone else can find the cited materials. And, be
consistent throughout the entire document. For help with proper
abbreviations and formats, see the tables at the back of The Bluebook . Look
at other examples from older issues of BJIL. If you cannot find any
examples in BJIL, use the format from the top law reviews. When citing to an electronic version of a document, be sure to follow The Bluebook, rule 18. Ask Marci for assistance with citation format (mhoffman@law.berkeley.edu). Don't
spend hours trying to find something, come and ask (or send me an
email)! The Reference Librarians can help too, so don't hesitate to
check with them. See also the Source Collection: Triage Guide and the Cite-Checking Information for information on borrowing books from other libraries, finding books, and other general tips. Prepared by
Marci Hoffman, International & Foreign Law Librarian, UC Berkeley Law Library. Last edited by Marci Hoffman, 15 September 2011LawCat... by