Chapter 24Free sample

International Law

Treaties, U.N. documents, international courts and EU law, found by their own numbers.

International law has no single publisher or numbering system. Each depositary, organization and tribunal numbers its own documents, and those numbers, not titles, find the same text in any language. Below, two citations from one story: a 1963 treaty’s consular-notification article, and the judgment of the International Court of Justice (the World Court) that read it.

A treaty article, cited to the U.S. and U.N. series

Vienna Convention on Consular Relations art. 36(1)(b), Apr. 24, 1963, 21 U.S.T. 77, 596 U.N.T.S. 261.

1 title the treaty gives itself; no comma before the article
2 article, paragraph, subparagraph, as the treaty numbers them
3 day the text was done, not entry into force
4 U.S. series: volume, U.S.T., first page
5 U.N. Treaty Series: volume, first page

A judgment of the International Court of Justice, pinpointed by paragraph

Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mex. v. U.S.), Judgment, 2004 I.C.J. 12, ¶ 153 (Mar. 31).

6 case title as the Court lists it
7 parties: v. because Mexico filed the case
8 the Court’s word for the stage
9 year, the Court’s Reports, first page
10 paragraph cited (here the operative clause)
11 month and day: the year is in the volume