Treaties Where the U.S. is not a Party and Multilateral Treaties

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Like researching U.S. treaties and agreements, the researcher is usually interested in:

• Locating the text of the treaty.
• Obtaining status and ratification information for specific countries.
• Finding reservations and declarations.
• researching the intent through background documents.

For a thorough review of researching treaties and agreements where the U.S. is not a party, see Researching Non-U.S. Treaties.

Background Information (Commentary, Treaty Interpretation and "Travaux Preparatoires")

Researching the background or history of non-U.S. treaties is challenging, especially bilateral treaties. For the most part, you will not have access to materials for a legislative history for other countries. If you are researching the background of a multilateral treaty, there are many more resources available.

Look for "travaux preparatoires" or history and commentaries in library catalogs or use journal indexes.

If the treaty or agreement was concluded pursuant to an international conference, look for conference documents using the name of the conference as an author or subject in a library catalog. If it is a recent conference, try searching for the conference on the Web.

If the treaty or conference was done under the auspices of an international organization, such as the U.N., look for documents using tools for locating such documents. See United Nations Documentation: Research Guide. See also the ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: International Organizations for tips on researching IGOs and NGOs on the web. For more information on tracking down this information, see Researching Non-U.S. Treaties.

If you want to research how treaties are implemented or interpreted in domestic legal systems, the most useful tools include international law yearbooks and International Law Reports (London, Butterworth 1919-) [KJ313 .I61 ILR] (a compilation of selected international and domestic court decisions).

A useful tool for locating some information on treaties as well as worldwide events is Keesing's Record of World Events (UCB only). Keesing's is a monthly digest of political, economic and social events with coverage from 1960 to present.

Prepared by Marci Hoffman, International & Foreign Law Librarian, UC Berkeley Law Library, October 2003.