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ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: Introduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview and background on the ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law (ERG), as well as some general resources for researching International Law on the Internet.
     
GUIDE HOME    
   
Kelly Vinopal 

What is the ERG?
  Beginnings of the Guide
  The Guide Today
  Current Scope
Impact of the Web on International Law
  Some Basic Documents of International Law
Researching International Law on the Internet
  Locating Relevant Information
  Evaluating What You Find on the Internet
  Finding More Relevant Sites

Selected Recommended Sites
  General International Law Web sites 
   Topical Sources
  International Courts and Tribunals
  International Organizations 
Citing to Web Documents
Current Awareness Resources


 

 

     
I. What is the ERG?

A. Beginnings of the Guide

The emergence of the Web in the mid-1990s opened up access to international legal documents on the Internet, and subsequently stimulated a proliferation of such information on Web sites both private and public. These developments led the American Society of International Law to launch, in 1997, the ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law ("ERG"). The idea was to have an electronic guide devoted to electronic resources, freely available to international legal researchers around the globe. 

In the early days, international law materials were a somewhat indeterminate assortment of semi-organized and often ephemeral resources. From those beginnings, and up to the present when international and foreign legal materials abound, the purpose of the ERG has been to evaluate, organize, guide and explain these varied electronic sources. 

B. The Guide Today

The current chapters of the ERG are critically revised and updated on a six-month basis. Rather than just compiling lists of links, the authors discuss the parameters and vagaries of electronic research in their fields of expertise. They set out basic strategies to find international legal materials and examine what resources are available on international environmental, economic and criminal law, private international law, human rights, intellectual property law, treaties, international organizations, international commercial arbitration, and the United Nations.

Each chapter is arranged in a logical fashion to aid the researcher. In some cases, the author outlines general search strategies for the particular subject area, and then links to specific aids, such as specialized periodical indexes and bibliographies, before drilling down to organized listings of links to primary resources.

C. Current Scope

In addition to the Introductory Chapter, there are  ten Chapters devoted to a specialized topic area of international law. 

  • The chapter devoted to human rights (http://www.asil.org/resource/humrts1.htm) focuses on the main organizations which promulgate human rights instruments: the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the International Labour Organization, the Organization of American States, and many others. The chapter points to Web sites for locating primary documents, including international instruments, case law, and other relevant information. It also provides links and tips for locating secondary sources, such as country reports, NGO documentation, and periodical literature. 
     
  •  The intellectual property law chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/ip1.htm) provides information for locating the major international intellectual property treaties and agreements, links to the most important international bodies dealing with IP issues, and information on how to locate domestic legislation.
  • The international commercial arbitration chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/arb1.htm) reviews the major international commercial arbitration institutions and agreements. A major component of this chapter is a detailed listing of national arbitration statutes. There is also a section on Lexis and Westlaw. 
  • The international criminal law chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/crim1.htm) links to international, regional, and national courts, as well as to law enforcement organizations, such as INTERPOL. It guides researchers to Web sites that address special categories of crimes -- war, environmental or drug-related, not to mention terrorism and genocide -- as well as to statistical and clearinghouse information sources. 
  •  In the international economic law chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/iel1.htm) the author presents "an overview of electronic resources in this dynamic and evolving area of law." The materials are organized generally into "International Trade Law" including export-import materials, ISO and ICC information, as well as treaty sources; "International Financial Law" from such organizations as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), MIGA, IFC and the World Bank; "Regional Economic Integration;" "International Development Law;" "Private International Law" and "International Business Regulation" which includes subsections on competition, e-commerce, environment, and taxation.  
     
  • The international environmental law (http://www.asil.org/resource/env1.htm) chapter organizes links to subject-relevant sections of a wide variety of international organizations -- the UN and its specialized agencies, ASEAN, Council of Europe, the EU, WTO, NAFTA, OAU, OECD, OAS, and many more. Later, the author identifies and links to secondary sources and online discussion groups. 
     
  •  The international organizations chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/intorg1.htm) provides a brief introduction to the concepts of "intergovernmental organizations" and "non-governmental organizations" as well as a discussion of electronic resources helpful in researching these organizations. Links to the Web sites of representative intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations have been selected to highlight access to their documents and other publications.
  • The private international law chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/pil1.htm) specifies those international organizations that are producing conventions, model laws, legal guides, and other documents and instruments related to issues such as commercial arbitration and sales of goods. There are links to the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, the UNIDROIT Conventions on International Financial Leasing, and the Hague Conventions on Private International Law that cover taking of evidence, child abduction, and service of documents abroad, among others. 
     
  • The chapter on treaties (http://www.asil.org/resource/treaty1.htm) warns of the difficulties of finding authentic, complete treaty series or even reliable texts of individual treaties. Various Web options are explored, from the UN Treaty Collection, to government sites (US and non-US), and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), such as the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Non-governmental organizations, such as the Red Cross and university-based resources around the world, are identified and their scope described. Tips on how to find elements other than the text of the treaty, for example signature, ratification and reservations are provided, as well as various research tools including catalogs, indexes, search engines, and current awareness services. 
  •  The United Nations chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/un1.htm) tackles access points to the whole UN system before zeroing in on areas such as international law and treaties. Web resources that have been developed by various UN organs, for example, the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) are pinpointed. Then there are links to Web sites of organizations that are not part of the United Nations, but are highly relevant, such as the Academic Council on the UN System (ACUNS). Other research guides and tools are identified, followed by a rundown on various commercial sources of UN materials online or on CD-ROM. 

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II. Impact of the Web on International Law

There is no doubt that the Web has had a tremendous impact on international legal research. This impact is evident in the following ways:

  • Easier access to international norms, especially new treaties, agreements, and instruments.  
  • Documentation from international organizations is more accessible.  
  • Greater ability to locate time-sensitive information, such as ratification information. 
  • Country condition Information is more available.  
  • No distinct boundaries between international and foreign law. 

A good place to begin researching international law on the Web is EISIL: Electronic Information System for International Law (http://www.eisil.org).   Developed by ASIL, EISIL allows researchers to easily locate the highest quality primary materials, authoritative Web sites, and research guides related to international law on the Internet.  EISIL is easy to use and it‘s available free of charge.

A. Some Basic Documents of International Law

The classic definition of international law is the law that governs relations between nation-states. In modern times, international law has evolved to include the relations between states and international organizations and even individuals. Researching international law can frequently require finding multilateral and bilateral treaties, the judgments of international courts and tribunals, the resolutions, declarations and other documents of inter-governmental organizations, model rules, and other sources that may be somewhat unfamiliar to the researcher.

Certain sources of international law are cited so frequently that they might be considered the bedrock documents of the international legal system. Although well-known, these documents used to be unexpectedly hard to find. Now, fortunately, most of them are available on the Web. In the list below, you will see that, where possible, the most authoritative institutional source has been selected. Please refer to the evaluation section of this introductory chapter for guidance on evaluating and citing electronic documents.

A short list of basic instruments for some of the major areas of international law include:

These instruments give some idea of the many areas, such as trade, human rights, communications, use of force, environment and intellectual property, which are covered in international law. To explore a topic in greater depth and detail, consult the specialized chapters of the ERG (http://www.asil.org/resource/home.htm).

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III. Researching International Law on the Web

A. Locating Relevant Information

With so much information available on the Web, how does one locate the most relevant materials? There are basically two types of tools for locating information on the Web: catalogs (also referred to as directories or indices) and search engines. 

1. Catalogs

Catalogs are individual Web sites that classify information into various organizational schemes. Many common schemes are by document type, subject, or source. Sometimes, if you are lucky, these catalogs provide not only the Web address but also a descriptive annotation. Some good catalogs include:

2. Search Engines

At least eighty-five percent of Internet users rely on general search engines, such as Alta Vista, Google, Yahoo!, etc., to locate relevant sites. There is so much information on the Web that you will need to use search engines to locate relevant information. For a good comparison of the major search engines, see The Best Search Engines (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html).

  • AltaVista  (http://www.altavista.com/)
    See also BabelFish (AltaVista’s page for translating foreign language texts to English) (http://babelfish.altavista.com/).
  • Findlaw (http://www.findlaw.com/) 
  • Google  (http://www.google.com)
  • Metacrawler  (http://www.metacrawler.com/)
  • MSN Search (http://search.msn.com/)
  • Yahoo! (http://dir.yahoo.com/Government/law)

There has been a good deal of discussion about something called the "invisible web" or the "deep web." These are Web sites that are not accessible by general search engines because the content on these sites is contained in databases that must be accessed through a direct query by the user. The sites listed below offer a means of locating these content-rich sites.  Fore more information on this issue, see Invisible Web: What it is, Why it exists, How to find it, and Its inherent ambiguity (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/InvisibleWeb.html).

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B. Evaluating What You Find on the Web

How do you know that what you have located on the Web is authoritative or reliable?  Some evaluation tips include: 

  • Think about what you are trying to find before you start searching the Web. Consider the type and the date of the document.  If it is an old or obscure document, you may be wasting your time on the Web. 
     
  • Some criteria to use when evaluating: accuracy and quality of the data; completeness; coverage; timeliness; stability; and authority of source
     
  • In addition to factors related to the content, think about the site‘s organization and navigability, how the documents are structured and arranged, and whether there are good tools for locating information on the site, such as a search device.  
     
  • How accessible is the site, does it have a lot of graphics and high-end technologies that 
    delay access? Does the site have any kind of archival or retention policy? 
     
  • Are there multiple levels of access? If you pay a fee, do you get more or higher quality information?  
     
  • Not all sites provide information in multiple languages and English language sites dominate the Web.  
For more information on how to evaluate a Web site, see How to Evaluate a Web Site (http://www.llrx.com/features/webeval.htm). There are many other guides on how to evaluate information resources, especially those resources on the Web, consult the Bibliography on Evaluating Web Information (http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/evaluate/evalbiblio.html). 

C. Finding More Relevant Sites

The amount of sources available on the Web in the areas of international and foreign law is growing at a furious pace.  These sites also provide the researcher with updated information:

  • International Law In Brief ( a collection of developments in international law)
    (http://www.asil.org/resources/e-newsletters.html#lawinbrief) 
  • In-SITE (Cornell Law Library)  (current awareness tool for law-related web sites)(http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/RESOURCES/insite.htm)
  • Notable Web Resources (Harvard Law Library) (new web resources related to law) (http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/research/nir/current_issue.php)
  • Research Buzz (Internet Research News) 
    (http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/)
  • Resource Shelf (provides information on new web sites and resources in many different fields of research)(http://www.resourceshelf.com/) 
  • TVC Alert (focuses on new web resources related to law) (http://www.virtualchase.com/)
  • What‘s New on the Web (University of Queensland) (covers a variety of disciplines).
    (http://www.library.uq.edu.au/internet/new/webnew.html)
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IV. Selected Recommended Sites

There are many high quality Web sites for the international legal researcher. This section highlights only a fraction of the useful sites available.  A good way to get started researching international law is to use the International Legal Research Tutorial, a joint project between Duke Law Library and U.C. Berkeley Law Library (http://www.law.duke.edu/ilrt/).

A. General International Law Web sites

1. Guides to International Law 

International law sources include treaties and agreements, documents and other topic specific information for both public and private international law. 

2. Mega International Law Sites

 

B.  Some Topical Sources

To explore a topic in greater depth and detail, consult the specialized chapters of the ERG (http://www.asil.org/resource/home.htm).  Also see web sites identified in topic-related categories in Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL) (http://www.eisil.org). 

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C. International Courts and Tribunals

The decisions and judgments of many international courts and tribunals are now available on the Web. Some of the sites are maintained by the issuing body and some are collections of documents from various bodies. 

D. International Organizations

These sites are generally collections of links to international organizations Web sites. See also the international organizations chapter of this guide (http://www.asil.org/resource/intorg1.htm). 

1. General Collections

2. Specific International Organization Sites V. Citing to Web Documents

How to properly cite documents located on the Web is always a question. It is important to give the essential information: author, title, the location (the URL), and the date the source was last visited. There are a couple of sites that contain information on citing to electronic information.  A useful resource for locating citations to many important treaties and agreements is Frequently-Cited Treaties and Other International Agreements  (http://www.law.umn.edu/library/tools/pathfinders/most-cited.html).

VI. Current Awareness Resources 

  • International Law In Brief  (ILIB) (http://www.asil.org/ilib/ilibarch.htm), a publication of The American Society of International Law (ASIL), is delivered twice a month by email, and frequently abstracts documents reflecting developments in private international law.  Subscriptions are free. 
  •  ASIL Insights (http://www.asil.org/insights.htm) Each issue of this electronic newsletter from the American Society of International Law provides a brief summary and analysis on a current international law news-related event. Originally developed for policy makers, journalists, and the public, Insights is often included in reading materials for courses in international law. Citations and links to relevant primary documents and web sites are provided. An archive of full text issues from 1996 to present is available. Electronic distribution of this resource is available through a no-cost subscription .
  • Blogs (or Web logs) have now entered the electronic communication arena.  There are some that are dedicated to international law, such as Opinio Juris (http://www.opiniojuris.org/) and Juscogens.net (http://www.juscogens.net/).  Some blogs cover specific international law topics, such as  International Economic Law and Policy Blog (http://worldtradelaw.typepad.com/ielpblog/) and Grotian Moment: The Saddam Hussein Trial Blog (http://www.law.case.edu/saddamtrial/).  To locate other blogs of interest, see Blawg: Your Source for Law and Legal Related Weblogs, a searchable directory of blogs (http://www.blawg.org/).  

 

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This page was last updated March 20, 2007.
 
   This chapter was originally created  by Marci Hoffman and Jill Watson.

 


 
 
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