Locating the Text of a Treaty
A. If you aren't sure if a treaty exists, or you don't have a citation or an exact title, gather information:
- Parties or participants (countries)
- Subject or topic of treaty
- Popular name of a treaty
- Date of signing, ratification, or entry into force
- Place of signature
- Bilateral or multilateral
- Sponsoring organization
- Note: If the U.S. is a party, begin with Treaties in Force
Then, start your search with a secondary source:
- Run a search in Primo for a book or article on your subject.
- Search the catalog of the Peace Palace Library.
- Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law This link opens in a new windowThis major work has over 2500 in-depth articles, containing extensive references and primary source links, on every substantive and procedural aspect of public international law.
B. Other strategies include the following:
- Try a Google search, but update your research in a traditional database
- Search the UN Treaty Collection
- Search HeinOnline's World Treaty Library or UN Law Collection
Multilateral Treaty Collections
There are several reliable databases containing treaties from the United Nations Treaty Series (1946-present). Hein's databases also include historical treaty collections.
- United Nations Treaty Series OnlineOver 50,000 treaties have been registered with the United Nations and published as a series since 1946. Search for the treaty title using keywords, or create your own advanced search. This collection can also be searched via HeinOnline's World Treaty Library and UN Law Collection, as well as WorldLII's treaty collection.
- Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-GeneralFor the most current list of parties to a treaty, and its current status, search the 560+ treaties deposited with the United Nations.
- WorldLII International Treaties & AgreementsMultilateral and bilateral treaties arranged by subject, region and country
- HeinOnline World Treaty LibraryUse "Treaty Index" to locate treaties in seven different indexes. Records often include links to the treaty text. Also includes cites to articles.
- HeinOnline United Nations Law CollectionThe Finding Aids in the center of the page provide a citation template and a popular name search, as well as a "Search for a Treaty" template with many options (keyword, countries, dates, etc.) Also includes links to articles and scholarly publications.
Bilateral Treaties (US is Not a party)
Bilateral treaties where the United States is not one of the parties can be located using the following strategies:
- If you have enough detailed information about a treaty dated 1995 to present, try a general web search.
- Try one of the full-text treaty indexes, such as the UN Treaty Series or Hein's World Treaty Index.
- The best resources for full-text bilateral treaties are national treaty collections and official gazettes. Find a Research Guide to an individual nation via Globalex or the Foreign Law Guide to locate their treaty collection or gazette. The sources below may also be of help.
- Georgetown Law Library- National Treaty CollectionsLinks to national treaty collections; advice on finding national gazettes and other sources.
- WorldLII National Treaty DatabaseSearch within National Treaty databases. Caveat: some are not as current as the source database.
- WorldLII International Treaties & AgreementsMultilateral and bilateral treaties arranged by subject, region and country
- U.N. Audiovisual Library of International Law: TreatiesClick on Collections Maintained by States.
- Gazette Collection (Law Library of Congress)Alphabetical guide to 56 nations with online gazettes.
- U.N. Treaty SeriesUse the Participant Search, Advanced Search or Title Search to locate Bi-lateral Treaties.
Multilateral Treaties by Subject or Organization
Many international organizations and non-governmental organizations maintain treaty collections by region and by topic. Fortunately, several of the legal research guides listed below, have organized these collections.
Also look for Research Guides on specific international law subjects, such as Environmental. Law, Human Rights Law, and Private International Law for treaty collections by subject.
Note: Many of these guides will suggest beginning your research in the EISIL treaty database. Unfortunately, EISIL is getting a long-overdue revision and is currently not available.
- Georgetown Law Library - Free Online Treaty CollectionsScroll down to the middle of the page for regional and subject links.
- WorldLII International Treaties & AgreementsMultilateral and bilateral treaties arranged by subject, region and country
- Boston University Treaty Research by TopicA thorough listing of treaty collections by topic. Note that some are print sources owned by BU, rather than online sources.
- Columbia Law - Guide to Treaty ResearchThe subject collections are near the bottom of the page. Some are print collections, and some require a database subscription.
- GUIDE: Treaty Indexes and Finding Aids (Oxford Univ.)Links to major indexes and collections of multilateral treaties.
More Treaty Research Guides
- Treaty Research (Georgetown Law Library)An in-depth guide to researching international treaties. Includes links to U.S., multilateral, bilateral and subject collections as well as citation help.
- Brooklyn Law School Treaty Research GuideIncludes Bluebook citation rules and location guide to official sources.
- Frequently-Cited Treaties (Univ. of Minnesota)A large collection of treaties arranged by topic, complete with Bluebook and other international citations.
