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Introduction to International Law - Sources in the UM Law Library: Decisions of International Tribunals

This guide to international legal research is designed primarily for students with little or no experience in doing research in international law.

Judicial Decisions of International Tribunals

Judicial decisions of international tribunals represent another source of international law. Of those tribunals:

1. International Court of Justice, created by the Charter of the United Nations, is the only truly worldwide tribunal, its jurisdiction extending to all states, whether or not they are members of the United Nations. Non-members can be parties before the Court if they accept its jurisdiction. The Court publishes its decisions first in advance-sheet form, and later in two annual collections:

  • Yearbook of the International Court of Justice. 1946- . Contains information on the developments in the Court's jurisdiction, its organization, its administration, its finances, biographical data of the judges and bibliographic list of all the cases before the court.

2. Court of Justice of the European Community is a tribunal of a regional organization with international jurisdiction. Its decisions are published in Reports of cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. 1954-  See K.3., infra, for additional information on publications.

3. European Court of Human Rights publishes its decisions in the following:

4. International Law Reports. Edited by Hersch Lauterpacht. 1919- . (Available online soon. Check e-resource page). Reprints selected decisions of national courts, but also indexes decisions of the International Court of Justice, Court of Justice of the European Communities, Administrative Tribunal of the International Labor Organization, decisions of selected claims, conciliation and arbitration commissions, etc. It was formerly entitled Annual Digest of Public International Law Cases. Cumulative indexes.

5. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

  • Basic Documents. 1995- . Also available online. These documents include statute of the tribunal, rules, indictments and proceedings, and judgments.

6. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

  • Basic Documents. 1999- . These documents include resolutions, rules, agreements, cases in progress, and completed cases.

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