• 7.1. Finding international law materials - introduction
• 7.2. Finding international organisations
• 7.3. Finding international case law
• 7.4. Finding treaties

7. Researching international law

This section aims to help you find the various types of international law materials, including treaties and international agreements, case law of international courts and tribunals, and the international organisations responsible for many treaties and tribunals.

7.1. Finding international law materials - introduction

Go to the Categories >> International page and look at the subcategories available. They will be needed for this part of the Exercises.

7.2. Finding international organisations

1. Task: Find the web sites for 4 of the following international organisations. Some are inter-government organisations. Choose the ones that interest you most.
   • the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
   • the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
   • South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
   • the Permanent Court of Arbitration
   • Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
   • the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
   • the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
   • Transparency International
   • the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (Unidroit)
2. Which are the most important international organisations in your subject interest areas? Try to find their web sites. You can use both browsing and searching.

7.3. Finding international case law

Go to the International Courts & Tribunals page.

1. Task: Find decisions of the International Court of Justice concerning one of the following (according to your interest):
   • fisheries
   • the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
   • the death penalty
2. Find the most extensive list that you can of the world's international Courts and Tribunals.
3. Which International Courts and Tribunals are relevant to your subjects? Try to find their web sites and find out whether the decisions of that Court or Tribunal can be searched.

7.4. Finding treaties

Go to the Treaties & International Agreements page to start this research.

1. Do your two countries publish treaties to which they are parties on the Internet?
2. Can you find treaties concerning your two subjects of interest by browsing By Subject?
3. Task: Are there any treaties concerning environmental impact assessment? Use both browsing and a limited scope search to try to find any such treaties.
4. Task: How would you find the widest range of articles, cases, law reform reports and other legal materials which have considered one of the environmental treaties you have found?
5. Task: For a treaty that you have found, try to find the following:
   • details of the States that are parties to it
   • whether there are any reservations or declarations entered in relation to it.
   • Are your two countries parties to the treaty, and have they entered any reservations or declarations?
6. Answer the above three sets questions in relation to a treaty concerning one of these subjects of interest to you:
   • inter-country adoption
   • international bills of exchange
   • one of your subjects of interest