The law library's foreign and international law collection includes, mostly in print but often also digitally, seminal commentaries on public international law, and comparative law, private international law, as well as treatises of many jurisdictions. As a source of law defined in ICJ Statute Article 38 (1)(d), these "teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations, are subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law". The writings of qualified legal scholars can be explanatory or expository works on the theory or history of international law, or foundational works of the many rules and norms that make up the corpus of international law. Some are article-by-article works providing analysis of individual statutory provisions of international treaty instruments of varying depth.
A new book display on L1 to accompany the upcoming Legal Information Symposium - The Legal Treatise, Past, Present, and Future, prepared by Evelyn Ma and Lucie Olejnikova, highlights some of the must-reads of public international law and essential legal commentaries. To take a deep dive, consult one of the many bibliographies and compilations in the law library collection:
Foundations of International law and Politics (Table of Contents) (Foundation Press, 2005)
Oxford Bibliographies Online: International Law
Helmersen, Sondre Torp, Finding 'the Most Highly Qualified Publicists': Lessons from the International Court of Justice. 30 Euro. J. Int'l Law 509 (2019)
And open-access research tools with curated update bibliographies:
- Peace Palace Library Research Guides
- Cambridge Law Eminent Scholars Archive
- Charles C. Jalloh, Subsidiary Means for the Determination of Rules of International Law, Report of the International Law Commission, Seventy-second session (26 April-4 June and 5 July-6 August 2021), General Assembly Official Records Seventy-sixth Session Supplement No. 10 (A/76/10). Annex, 186 et seq.
- Law Library of Congress, Public International Law: A Beginner's Guide featuring variety of treatises
- Georgetown Law Library, Research Guide, Treatise Finders listing treatises by subject
