Treaty Research

by Dan Michniewicz

This guide describes selected library resources available to York University Law Library users that will help you research treaty information. Included are print resources, CD-ROMs, Web sites, and online databases on Quicklaw*, Lexis-Nexis*, and Westlaw*

When searching the Library Catalogue, there are a number of Subject searches to try:

the term Treaties followed by various subdivisions (e.g. Treaties Collections, Treaties Interpretation and Construction, Treaties Ratification)
the name of a nation followed by the terms Foreign Relations Treaties (e.g. Canada Foreign Relations Treaties, Great Britain Foreign Relations Treaties)
the name of a nation followed by the phrase Treaties etc (e.g. Canada Treaties etc, United States Treaties etc) or two nations separated by the phrase Treaties etc (e.g. Canada Treaties etc United States); these two methods may also be used as author searches given that the nations are considered the "authors" of the work
the name of the treaty itself (e.g. Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms); if you do not know the exact name of the treaty or agreement, use Keyword search; also note that the name of a treaty may be Subject-indexed using the previous method followed by a date (e.g. Canada Treaties etc United States 1988 Jan 2 will give you information on the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement)
Treaty-making power (punctuation is often not an issue when searching the Online Catalogue, by in this case you must include the hyphen)
International Law followed by various subdivisions, geographical and otherwise
two geographical regions separated by the term Foreign Relations (e.g. Canada Foreign Relations United States, Africa Foreign Relations Europe)
when searching for information on treaties or land claims involving First Nations peoples, note that the antiquated terms Indians and Indians of North America are still widely found as Subject headings; try Indians of North America, followed by a province or state, followed by Treaties or Claims (e.g. Indians of North America British Columbia Claims); also try the name of the First Nation (noting Anglicization), followed by Indians, followed by Treaties (e.g. Cree Indians Treaties, Niska Indians Treaties for the Nisga'a)

TREATY INDEXES AND FINDING TOOLS

Canada
- Treaties in Force for Canada: A List of Treaties of Canada in force as of January 1, 1988 [JX 357.5 T74 1988 Law-Ref Desk]
  - compiled by the Treaty Section, Bureau of Legal Affairs, External Affairs Canada
  - includes both bilateral and multilateral treaties
  - supplemented by unofficial annual updates titled Bilateral and Multilateral Treaty Actions Taken by Canada
  - in both English and French
- Canadian Treaty Calendar, 1928-1978 [JX 357.5 W54 1983 Law-Ref Desk]
  - by Christian L. Wiktor
  - indexes the Canada Treaty Series only
  - 2 volumes: chronological index and numerical list in v.1; bilateral index, multilateral index, and subject index in v.2
United States
- United States Treaty Index: 1776-2000 Consolidation [JX 231 U58 2001]
  - various numerical indexes in volumes 1-5 (TS, EAS, AD, TIAS, and KAV numbering systems)
  - also includes chronological index (v. 6-7), country index (v.8-9), subject index (v.10-11, revised in 2001), and geographical subject index (v. 12-13)
- Treaties in Force: A List of Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States in Force on...[JX 231 A35]
  - compiled by the Treaty Affairs Staff, Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State
  - complemented by Guide to the United States Treaties in Force [JX 231 A35]
  - only treaties to which the U.S. is a party are included
Foreign and International
- Multilateral Treaty Calendar, 1648-1995 [KZ 118 M85 1998 Law Ref Desk]
  - by Christian L. Wiktor
  - single volume, primarily chronological, but also with subject, geographical, and general indexes
  - contains comprehensive list of source material (p.xxix), including the Canada Treaty Series
  - includes GATT Agreements in ILO Conventions
- Bowman, M.J. and D.J. Harris. Multilateral Treaties: Index and Current Status [JX 171 B68 1984 Law-Ref Desk]
  - supplemented by a 1995 supplement
  - for multilateral treaties throughout the world
  - fairly comprehensive and is good for citation (official and unofficial) and status information, although not up-to-date
  - treaties are listed chronologically
- United Nations Cumulative Treaty Index [JX 170 U35 A15 1999]
  - compiled by Igor I. Kavass
  - 15 volumes, kept up-to-date by supplement
  - treaties indexed numberically (v.1-4), chronologically (v. 5-7), by country (v.8-11), and by subject (v. 12-15)
- Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General [JX 1977 A2 ST LEG SER E Law-Ref]
  - an annual index to multilateral treaties deposited with the United Nations
  - broad subject access available
  - citation and status information
  - texts of declarations and reservations are included
- Index to Treaty Series [JX 636 1892B]
  - from the British Foreign Office
- Rohn, Peter. World Treaty Index. 2nd ed. [JX 171 R64 Law-Ref]
  - 5 volumes
  - covers bilateral and multilateral treaties between 1900-1980
  - party index and keyword index
- Public International Law [JX 1 P83 Law-Ref; shelved with the print periodical indexes]
  - bibliography of books and articles from the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
- Glossary of International Treaties: In French, English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German and Russian [JX 1236 R45]
- Basic Documents of International Economic Law [K 3820 A35 B37 1990]
- Copyright Laws and Treaties of the World [K 1418.2 1956]
  - York has holdings up to the 1981-1983 supplement

TREATY COLLECTIONS
(all resources are available in the Law Library at York University, unless noted otherwise)

Canada
- Canada Treaty Series 1928- [JX 355.9 A3]
- Treaties with Canada [JX 356 T74 CD-ROM; check out the CD-ROM at the Circulation Desk and load on the dedicated CD-ROM workstation in the Law Library]
  - full text of all bilateral, multilateral, and Native treaties that affect Canada, including current and historical status information, keywords, citations to the Canada Treaty Series and other series, and signatory information
- Aboriginal Land Claims British Columbia [KF 8208 A913 CD-ROM; check out the CD-ROM at the Circulation Desk and load on the dedicated CD-ROM workstation in the Law Library]
- Aboriginal Land Claims North [KF 8208 A914 CD-ROM; check out the CD-ROM at the Circulation Desk and load on the dedicated CD-ROM workstation in the Law Library]
  - collection of Framework and Land Claim Agreements between Aboriginal Peoples of the North and the federal and provincial government, as well as a selection of federal statutes and the historic Douglas Treaties
  - it includes the full text of documents (including annexes, appendices, protocols, and other additions to particular claims); current status information, signatory information, and hyperlinks to statutes, pictures, and maps
- Quicklaw*
  - the Trade Agreements Global database (Database Code TRAD) is comprised of the following databases: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, with coverage since 1994 (Database Code GATT); the North American Free Trade Agreement, since 1992 (NAFT); the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, since 1987 (FTA); and the Canadian Agreement on Internal Trade, since 1994 (CAIT)
- Lexis-Nexis*
  - North American Free Trade Agreement (Short Name INTLAW; NAFTA) and NAFTA Panel Review Decisions from April 1995 (INTLAW; NAFDEC)
  - FTA Panel Review Decisions from 1989-1995 (INTLAW;USCFTA) (USCFTA superceded by NAFDEC above)
- Westlaw*
  - North American Free Trade Agreement (Database Identifier NAFTA) and its Binational Panel (NAFTA-BIP)
- Canado-American Treaties http://www2.lexum.umontreal.ca/ca-us/
  - from the Centre de Recherche en Droit Public, Faculté de Droit, Université de Montréal
  - text of bilateral treaties between the U.S. and Canada from 1783 and 1997
  - searchable by subject or series number (among other access points)
United States
- United States Treaties and Other International Agreements [JX 231 A34]
  - cumulative indexes issued in the United States Treaty Index: 1776-2000 Consolidation [JX 231 U58 2001]
- Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949 [JX 236 1968 A5]
  - bilateral and multilateral agreements, with index
  - York missing volumes 7-10
- Unperfected Treaties of the United States of America [JX 236 1776 U56]
  - York has holdings for 1776-1943
- Treaties and Other International Acts Series - TIAS [US 1 ST22.4 T75 at BG]
- Lexis-Nexis*
  - U.S. Treaties on Lexis from Oceana (Short Name INTLAW; USTRTY): "...compilation of full-text ratified and unratified treaties and international agreements, where the United States is a party or signatory" from 1776 to the present
  - North American Free Trade Agreement (INTLAW; NAFTA) and NAFTA Panel Review Decisions from April 1995 (INTLAW; NAFDEC)
  - U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement Panel Review Decisions from 1989-1995 (INTLAW; USCFTA) (USCFTA superceded by NAFDEC above)
- Westlaw*
  - U.S. Treaties and Other International Agreements since June 1979 (Database Identifier USTREATIES)
  - Federal Taxation-U.S. Treaties and Conventions since 1955 (FTX-TREATIES)
  - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its Binational Panel (NAFTA-BIP)
- United States: Senate, House and Treaty Documents http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong006.html
  - search for U.S. Treaty Documents and their corresponding Executive Reports (click the "Helpful Hints..." link for guidance)
Foreign and International
- League of Nations Treaty Series 1920-1946 [JX 170 U34]
- United Nations Treaty Series 1947- [JX 170 U35]
- European Treaty Series [JX 626 1949 E8 CUR]
- Consolidated Conventions and Agreements [JX 626 1971 C68]
- International Legal Materials 1962- [JX 68 I52 Law-Ref]
  - published bimonthly by the American Society of International Law
  - provides selected texts of documents (treaties and cases) of interest to international law
  - also available on Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw
- The Major International Treaties, 1914-1973: a History and Guide With Texts [KZ 64 G74 1974 Law] and The Major International Treaties Since 1945: A History and Guide With Texts [JX171 G745 1987 at Scott Library Reference]
  - year 2000 consolidation of these two texts - The Major International Treaties of the Twentieth Century [KZ 64 G74 2001]
- Lexis-Nexis*
  - Treaties and Agreements from ILM (Short Name INTLAW; ILMTY) covers issues of the periodical International Legal Materials from January 1975 to the present
  - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Uruguay Round (INTLAW; GATT), GATT Panel and WTO Decisions from 1948 (INTLAW, GTTWTO), GATT/WTO Basic Instruments and Selected Documents (INTLAW; BISD)
- Westlaw*
  - selected coverage of International Legal Materials since 1980 (Database Identifier ILM) and the ILM Cumulative Index since 1962 (ILM-INDX)
  - Oceana Treaties and International Agreements since 1988 (OCEANA-TIA)
  - Tax Analysts-Worldwide Tax Treaties since 1988 (TA-TREATIES)
  - General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade, Uruguay Round (GATT) and WTO-GATT Panel Decisions (WTO-DEC) (GATT from 1948-1994, and WTO since 1995)
- Multilaterals Project http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multilaterals.html
  - the Multilaterals Project from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, "designed to make available the texts of international multilateral conventions and other instruments"
  - organized by subject and chronologically, with a link to the UN Treaty Database
- The Hague Conference on Private International Law http://www.hcch.net/e/conventions/index.html
  - "...an overview of the multilateral treaties drawn up by the Hague Conference" (including full text)
  - clicking "Full status report" in the record for a given Convention gives signatories, parties, etc.
- Legal Affairs - Legal Office, Council of Europe http://conventions.coe.int
  - from the Council of Europe
  - search for European Treaty Series (ETS) conventions and agreements
- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' "Treaty Bodies Database"

BACKGROUND INFORMATION/TRAVAUX PRÉPARATOIRES

Historical information about a given agreement may be found by searching the Library Catalogue using the name of the treaty/convention or Travaux Preparatoires as Subject or Title keywords. Travaux Préparatoires refer to materials that are used in, or that come about from the drafting stages of a treaty, convention, etc. A Web site from Jonathan Pratter at the University of Texas http://www.law.utexas.edu/staff/presentations/jpratter/, offers guidance on how to research these works. Examples of background information in the Law Library include:

Collected Edition of the "Travaux Préparatoires" [of the European Convention on Human Rights] [JX 4000 C67]
The Collected Travaux Préparatoires of the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees [JX 4292 R4 C66 1989A]
Guide to the "Travaux Préparatoires" of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [K 3238.3 1966 B67 1987]
La Convention Européenne des Droits de l'Homme: Commentaire Article par Article [KJC 5132 A4195 A323 1995]
The Human Rights Committee: Its Role in the Development of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [K 3239.5 M35 1991] (note that Scott Library has the revised 1994 edition of this work)
Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate: A Study [KF 4989 A25 1984]

RESEARCH GUIDES (Please note that call numbers/locations found on these sites do not refer to York U; please check the YULibrary Catalogue)

American Society of International Law (ASIL) Introduction to Treaty Research
http://www.asil.org/resource/treaty1.htm
Bora Laskin Law Library's 'Treaties and Other Sources of International Law"
http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/resguide/rschguid.htm
"A Guide to Treaty Research" from the George Washington University National Law Centre, Jacob Burns Law Library
http://www.aallnet.org/sis/ripssis/treaty.html
UC Davis "Guide to Treaty Research"
http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/govdoc/Foreign/research.html
A Structured Approach to Researching the Drafting History of International Agreeements
http://www.law.utexas.edu/staff/presentations/jpratter/
UC Berkeley Research Guide on "Treaties and International Agreements"
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/GSSI/trtygde.html
Introduction to International Law Research (Brooklyn Law School Library)
http://brkl.brooklaw.edu/screens/rgintl.html
Canada-U.S. Relations Page (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade)
http://dev.dev.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/geo/usa/menu-e.asp

PERIODICAL ARTICLES AND INDEXES

RAVE http://www.jura.uni-duesseldorf.de/rave/e/englhome.htm
- "a database that covers recent publications (articles and decisions) in public international law and European law...starting with the year 1995"
ASILEX http://www.asil.org/asilex.htm
- "ASILEX contains bibliographic information on ASIL periodical publications such as the American Journal of International Law and International Legal Materials - 1990-2000 (and) Books and Occasional Papers - 1964-2000. Included are works that emerged from projects conducted under the auspices of the Society, which are generally produced in cooperation with other publishers"
eResources on the York University Libraries Web site:
- Index to Legal Periodicals
- Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
- LegalTrac
- AccessUN
- Microlog
- ABI/Inform

*Only available to Osgoode Faculty and students. York students and Faculty consult Reference Librarians for access.

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Treaty Research

RESOURCES