Law/Legal Research Resources: International Law

Select a country. These guides provide links to free online legal materials, as well as Library of Congress resources. Each guide has these sections: Constitution, Executive, Judicial, Legislative, Legal Guides, and General Sources.

On this site international law is defined, and the relationships between the United Nations and its bodies to upholding international law are described.

Parts of this annual publication review legal status and activities of the United Nations and related intergovernmental organizations, and decisions of international and national tribunals.

This is a guide to published resources to use when trying to research treaties to which the United States was or is a party.

Click section on "Treaties & Agreements."

This lists treaties and other international agreements of the United States on record in the Department of State.

TIAS is the official publication since 1945 for treaties and agreements that have entered into force for the United States, electronic only since 2006.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the depositary of more than 560 multilateral treaties which cover a broad range of subject matters such as human rights, disarmament and protection of the environment.

Action taken by the EU is founded on treaties approved voluntarily and democratically by all EU member countries. Under the treaties, EU institutions can adopt legislation, which the member countries then implement. The complete texts of treaties, legislation, case law and legislative proposals can be viewed using the EUR-Lex database of EU law.

Click treaties.

The text of all Council of Europe treaties, their explanatory reports, the status of signatures and ratifications, the declarations and reservations made by States, as well as the notifications issued by the Treaty Office since 2000 (declarations and reservations as well as electronic notifications are available in the Council of Europe's official languages only).

The Secretariat for Legal Affairs (SLA) serves as depository for all Inter-American treaties and their instruments of ratification, which the Charter of the Organization of American States assigns to the General Secretariat [(art. 112, f)]. The Secretariat also serves as depository for all bilateral agreements between the Organs of the OAS and Member States, Observer States, agencies and other entities of these states, or other Inter-American agencies.

ECOLEX, operated jointly by FAO, IUCN and UNEP, is a global environmental law source,
including information on treaties, international soft-law and other non-binding policy and technical guidance documents, national legislation, judicial decisions, and law and policy literature.

This is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN), established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations.

This court of last resort investigates and tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.

This independent judicial body, established by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, has jurisdiction over any dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention, and over all matters specifically provided for in any other agreement which confers jurisdiction on the Tribunal. Disputes relating to the Convention may concern the delimitation of maritime zones, navigation, conservation and management of the living resources of the sea, protection and preservation of the marine environment and marine scientific research.

Canada’s national trial court hears and decides federal legal disputes whose subject matter has been assigned to the Court by Parliament, including claims against the Government of Canada; civil suits between private parties in federally-regulated areas; and reviews of the decisions of most federal tribunals.

Click Case-law to link to online Reports of Cases and other options.

aka Strasbourg Court

EUR-Lex is the online gateway to EU Law, providing the official and most comprehensive access to EU legal documents, including treaties, legal acts of EU institutions, and EU case law. Updated daily.

This is the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases, and for criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Official home of most (but not all) types of legislation and their accompanying explanatory documents.