International legal materials are generally found under the Library of Congress (LC) call number KZ. Sample Library of Congress subject headings include:
Comparative legal materials (i.e. titles that compare or contain laws of multiple countries) can be found under call number K or subject headings, like those below, with no specific jurisdiction designation:
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This guide aims to familiarize researchers with foundational treaty sources and resources for studying public and private international law, including international human rights, intellectual property, trade, and environmental law.
Public international law governs relations between nation-states, while foreign law refers to another country's domestic laws. Private international law, often confused with international law, addresses laws governing cross-border interactions between private parties, posing the question of "which country's law applies?" This area is also known as conflicts of laws, and parties can select the governing law through contracts. Topics in private international law, such as family law and litigation, are often covered by treaties, which aim to harmonize national laws.
The sources of public international law are detailed in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice and include treaties, customs, general principles, and case law, with scholarly commentary as a subsidiary means. Treaties are formal agreements, customary law arises from state practices and general principles are recognized by courts globally. Notably, "soft law" documents from inter-governmental organizations like the UN are not considered formal sources under the ICJ Statute.
Treaties are formal agreements between nations, while customary law consists of state practices that are followed out of a sense of obligation. General principles refer to legal principles recognized by courts worldwide. It is important to note that documentation from inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) like the United Nations, often referred to as "soft law," is not listed as a source of law under the ICJ Statute, possibly because the Statute was drafted prior to the growth of IGOs.
Treaties are written instruments that can be found in both official and unofficial sources. In contrast, custom and general principles are generally unwritten, and evidence of these must come from other sources, including treaties, UN documents, and court decisions.
General principles are derived by analogy from rules common to many legal systems. They are not authoritatively codified or set forth comprehensively anywhere. General principles are often expressed in Latin.
Historically, general principles were included as a source of law in order to prevent a tribunal from avoiding a decision on the grounds that no law was applicable to the case before it and to prevent bias on the part of the judges. Thus, general principles may serve a gap filling purpose. While some argue that general principles must be reflected in treaties or customs, others maintain that they reflect broader general principles of law and international equity. See Cohen, Berring & Olson, How to Find the Law. 10th Floor - KF240.C538 1989.
Consistent with the latter view is the idea that general principles are those which are applied universally by state domestic courts (I.e. laches, res judicata, impartiality of judges). Principles that the ICJ has recognized include freedom of maritime communication, good faith, estoppel, and inviolability of the diplomatic agent. Sources of International Law. 10th Floor - KZ3410.S67 2000.
General principles may be found in the decisions of international tribunals, digests, international law treatises, and international law encyclopedias. The best documentation of these principles is found in textbooks, general surveys, manuals, treatises, classics, and encyclopedias. See John W. Williams, Research Tips in International Law, George Washington Journal of International Law & Economics (1986). Available via Hein & UIC Law Library 10th Floor - KZ 3.W55 1981.