United States Treaty Research & Interpretation
Prepared for AALL 2009, Washington, DC, by Marylin Raisch and Teresa Miguel
H4: Thinking about Treaties: Interpretation, in Force, and Internet
July 28, 2009
I. Principal Treaty Sets for General, Historical, and U.S. Treaty Research
Official
Treaties
Library of Congress (Thomas)1 (from the 90th Congress, 1967) &
U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)2 (from the 104th Congress, 1995)
United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (U.S.T.)
Washington, D.C.: United States Department of State, 1950-Present.
Call Number: KZ235.3 .U5 & HeinOnline
Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS)
Washington, D.C.: United States Department of State, 1946-Present.
Call Number: KZ235.32 .U55 & HeinOnline
Senate Treaty Document Series
Senate3 and GPO4
Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949
(Bevans). Edited by C. Bevans. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Gov’t Printing Office, 1968-1976.
Call Number: KZ236 1986 & HeinOnline, LLMC Digital5
United States Statutes at Large
Washington, D.C.: United States Department of State.
Call Number: KF50 .U5 & HeinOnline, Westlaw6, LexisNexis7, GPO8
United Nations Treaty Series
New York: United Nations, Office of Legal Affairs, 1946-Present.
Call Number: KZ172 .T74 & HeinOnline9, United Nations Treaty Collection10
1
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/treaties/treaties.html
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/index.html
3
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/d_three_sections_with_teasers/treaties.htm
4
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/index.html &
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CDOC
5
http://www.llmcdigital.org/ (subscription database)
6
http://www.westlaw.com (subscription database)
7
http://www.lexis.com (subscription database)
8
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/statutes/index.html
9
http://www.heinonline.org (subscription database)
10
http://treaties.un.org
2
2
Unofficial
Treaties
LexisNexis and Westlaw each carry U.S.T.
Treaties and International Agreements Online
Oceana (Oxford University Press)11
1999-Present
Hein’s United States Treaties and other International Agreements
Edited by W.S. Hein. Buffalo, New York: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 1990.
Microfiche
Consolidated Treaty Series
Edited by C. Parry. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1969-1981.
Call Number: KZ120 .P35 1969
Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols and Agreements between the United States
and Other Powers 1776-1937 (Malloy)
Compiled by William M. Malloy. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Gov’t Printing Office, 1910.
Call Number: KZ236 1910 & HeinOnline
Unperfected Treaties of the United States of America
Edited by C. Wiktor. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1976-1994.
Call Number: KZ236 1976
International Legal Materials
American Society of International Law, Washington, DC, 1962-Present.
Call Number: KZ64 .I58 & HeinOnline, Lexis, Westlaw
II. Principal Treaty Indexes for General, Historical, and US Treaty Research
CIS Index to Publications of the United States Congress: Senate Treaty Document Series
1970-Present
Call Number: KF49 .C62
Congressional Record Index: Treaties & Agreements
1873-Present
Call Number: KF35 & Thomas, GPO, LexisNexis, Westlaw, & LexisNexis Congressional12
Kavass’s Current Treaty Index
Edited and compiled by Igor I. Kavass. Buffalo, New York: W.S. Hein & Co., 1999-Current.
Call Number: KZ235 .U58 & HeinOnline
Current Treaty Index, 1982-1999
Compiled by I. Kavass and A. Sprudzs. William S. Hein & Co., Inc.
Call Number: KZ235 .C87 & HeinOnline
11
12
http://www.oceanalaw.com (subscription database)
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/ (subscription database)
3
United States Treaty Index, 1776-Present Consolidation
Edited by Igor Kavass. Buffalo, New York: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 1991 (2008
Supplement). Replaces in their entirety U.S.T. Cumulative Indices (below).
Call Number: KZ235 .U58 1991
U.S.T. Cumulative Index, 1950-1970 & U.S.T. Cumulative Index, 1971-1975
Compiled by I. Kavass & A. Sprudzs. Buffalo, New York: William S. Hein & Co., Inc.
Call Number: KZ235 .U58
United States Treaties and Other International Agreements Cumulative Index, 1776-1949
Compiled by I. Kavass & M. Michael. Buffalo, New York: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 1975.
Call Number: KZ235 .K37 1975
Multilateral Treaty Calendar = Répertoire des Traités Multilatéraux, 1648-1995
Wiktor, Christian L. The Hague, The Netherlands; Boston, Mass.: M. Nijhoff Publishers;
Cambridge, MA: Kluwer Law International, 1998.
Call Number: KZ118 .M85 1998
Index-Guide to Treaties: Based on the Consolidated Treaty Series
Clive Parry, LL.D.
Call Number: KZ120 .P352 1979
III. Treaty Status Sources for U.S. Treaties
Treaties in Force: A List of Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States
United States Department of State. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Gov’t Printing Office, 1929-Present
(official).
Call Number: KZ235 .T74 & HeinOnline, U.S. Department of State13, Westlaw, LexisNexis
Congressional Index, 1938-Present
Chicago: Commerce Clearing House (CCH) (official).
Call Number: KF49 .C6
A Guide to the United States Treaties in Force
Buffalo, New York.: W.S. Hein Co., 1982 (unofficial).
Call Number: KZ235 .G85 & HeinOnline
IV. Principal Sources for Updating U.S. Treaties
Current Treaty Index
Edited and compiled by Igor I. Kavass. Buffalo, New York: W.S. Hein & Co., 1999-Present.
Call Number: KZ235 .U58 1991 Suppl. & HeinOnline
U.S. Department of State Treaty Actions14
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee15
13
http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/treaties/2009/index.htm (links for Pending Treaties and to Thomas for
foreign relations legislation)
14
http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/c3428.htm
15
http://foreign.senate.gov/legislation.html
4
V. Treaty Interpretation and Legislative History16
The tools used in conducting legislative history research for U.S. treaties are very similar to those
used in U.S. federal legislative history research.
Senate Treaty Documents
Senate17, GPO18, and LexisNexis
Senate Executive Reports
Senate19 & LexisNexis
CIS Senate Executive Documents and Reports
Microfiche with two-volume index, 1817-1969.
Congressional Hearings
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings20 & GPO21
Department of State documents
 Department of State Dispatch (1990-1999)
o Call Number: KZ231 .U83 & HeinOnline, LexisNexis
 Foreign Relations of the United States (1948-1976)
o Call Number: KZ233 .U55 & Dept. of State22
 Digest of United States Practice in International Law (1973-Present)
o Call Number: KZ21 .D54 & HeinOnline, Dept. of State23
 Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1965-Present)
o Call Number: J80 .W44 & HeinOnline, GPO24
 Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (1929-Present)
o Call Number: J80 .A283 & GPO25 & LexisNexis
Treaties Submitted to the United States Senate: Legislative History, 1989 – 2004
Christian Witkor, Leiden; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2006.
Call Number: KF4989 .W55 2006
Travaux Preparatoires or other commentaries in library catalogs or periodical indexes
 The Canada-U.S. Tax Treaty: Text and Commentary (2004)
Call Number: KDZ912.2 .K75 2004
Most of these resources are taken directly from Marci Hoffman and Mary Rumsey ’s extremely useful
International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook, Chapter 6: Public International Law, (Leiden;
Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008).
17
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/d_three_sections_with_teasers/treaties.htm
18
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/index.html &
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CDOC
19
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/index.html
20
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearing.html
21
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/senate11sh.html
22
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/index.htm
23
http://www.state.gov/s/l/c8183.htm
24
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/index.html &
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CPD
25
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/index.html
16
5

The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Preparatoires (2008)
Call Number: K5302 .A92 2009
United States Code Service (1972-Present): “Notes to Uncodified Laws and Treaties”
Call Number: KF62.5 .L38 & LexisNexis
Treaties and Other International Agreements Online (Oceana)
Some Senate Treaty Documents are available via the “source image” button.
VI. Commentary
Commentary on treaties and texts is a familiar format in other legal systems, particularly in civil
law systems, where civil codes have special commentaries and the analysis of major charters is
within this general framework. In public international law generally, the American practice is
similarly to look to the classic commentaries. Additionally, in place of a yearbook of
international law, the United States produces both a Restatement of the Law of Foreign Relations
and the variously-named Digest of United States practice in International Law.
Digests
An equivalent to quarterly updates of similar information as is found in the current
Digest of United States Practice in International Law may be found in issues of the American
Journal of International Law (1989-Present)
Call Number: K1 .M444 & GPO, 26 HeinOnline, Westlaw, LexisNexis, JSTOR27, Gale
LegalTrac28, and ProQuest29.
Cumulative Digest of United States Practice in International Law (1981-1988)
Washington, DC: Office of the Legal Adviser, Dept. of State: U.S. Gov’t Printing Office, 1993.
Call Number: KZ21 .D54
Digest of United States Practice in International Law
Vols. 1-8 (1973-1980); Dept. of State
Call Number: KZ21 .D54
Digest of International Law (Whiteman)
Vols. 1-15 (June 1963-1973)
Call Number: KZ237.7 .W49 1963
Digest of International Law (Hackworth)
Vols. 1-8 (1940-1944)
Call Number: KZ237.7 .H33 1946
Digest of International Law as Embodied in Diplomatic Discussions, Treaties and other
International Agreements, International Awards, the Decisions of Municipal Courts, and the
Writings of Jurists, and Especially in Documents, Published and Unpublished, Issued by
26
http://www.state.gov/s/l/c8183.htm
http://www.jstor.org/ (subscription database)
28
http://find.galegroup.com (subscription database)
29
http://www.proquest.com/en-US/ (subscription database)
27
6
Presidents and Secretaries of State of the United States, the Opinions of the Attorneys-General,
and the Decisions of Courts, Federal and State (Moore)
Vols. 1-8 (1906-1906)
Call Number: KZ237.7 .M66 1906
History and Digest of the International Arbitrations to which the United States Has Been a Party
Moore, John Bassett; Vol. 1-6; Washington: GPO, 1898 (1995 reprint by W.S. Hein Co.).
Call Number: KZ183.2 .M66 1995
Digest of International Law of the United States Taken from Documents Issued by Presidents and
Secretaries of State and from Decisions of Federal Courts and Opinions (Wharton)
Vols. 1-3 (1887)
LC Call Number: JX237 .W5 1887 & HeinOnline
Digest of the Published Opinions of the Attorneys-General and of the Leading Decisions of the
Federal Courts, With Reference to International law, Treaties, and Kindred Subjects
Vol. 1 (1877)
Call Number: KZ237.7 .D54
Restatement
The American Law Institute, Restatement of the Law, the Foreign Relations Law of the United
States. St. Paul, MN: American Law Institute Publishers, 1987 (and current supplements).
Call Number: KF4651 .R47 & Westlaw, LexisNexis, HeinOnline
Web based WTO Analytical Index and the ICRC database for the Geneva Conventions
Although not strictly new, these newly designed (in the case of the Red Cross treaties) and (in the
case of the WTO) newly supplemented (by WorldTradeOnline subscription database) e-resources
are examples of hypertext commentaries at their best, connecting the main articles of treaties with
their commentaries and making them more accessible to researchers. They are free on the web
and yet as such are e-books or e-commentaries.
VII. Publication History30
The recent history of treaty publication in the United States and the difficulties presented
to researchers began with a disruption in the printing, publication, and distribution of two types of
documents: 1 the ratified treaties and 2) executive agreements. (For an extensive and invaluable
discussion of United States treaty practice and theory, important for an understanding of the
discussion below concerning treaties, history, and comparative research on monist and dualist
national treaty regimes, consult Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Treaties
and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate (2001)31; it is
published periodically but irregularly for the benefit of the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S.
Senate. There are many guides available for researching treaties of the United States and across
regimes in a transnational context; see, for details on the United States electronic and printed
30
This section was written as part of a larger essay and presentation by Marylin Raisch, entitled
Contemporary International Law Research: New Resources and Perspectives, for the Joint Study Institute
held at Georgetown University on June 27, 2008.
31
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-in/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_senate_print&docid=f:66922.pdf
(also available in print; Call Number: KF4989 .A25 2003)
7
bibliography of treaty and agreement process, guides posted at Columbia, Duke, Harvard,
Georgetown, and UC Berkeley, to name only a few).32
Disruptions and delays in the publication of both types of documents became problematic
in the early 1980’s under the Reagan Administration and has continued off and on through the
present day. The Case-Zablocki Act , Pub. L. 92-403, §1, Aug. 22, 1972, 86 Stat. 619 (1 U.S.C.
112b, (a) through (f)),33 requires transmittal to Congress of international agreements other than
“advice and consent treaties”.34 The latter are slow to appear in the official treaty sources; there
is a lag in publication both of the “slip” version, Treaties and Other International Acts Series
(cited to as TIAS) (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., 1946-), eventually republished with new
pagination in the bound set, United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (cited to
as U.S.T.) (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O. , 1950-). The “faster” slip format is as of this date
eleven years behind, with the last issue received dated May 8, 1997. The bound volume is about
24 years behind.
The “archive” has given way to the list or index, such that Treaties in Force, as well as
the index and microfiche series edited by the late Igor Kavass (United States Treaty Index, 15
vols.; supplemented by Current Treaty Index) are together the best print sources for U.S. treaty
information; the treaties themselves are available on microfiche in Hein's United States Treaties
and Other International Agreements35 and also now electronically on HeinOnline.
The indexing and collection of treaties and agreements to which Professor Kavass gave
the eponymous numbering system denominated as KAV numbers has bridged some of the
publishing “gap” in making these texts available. However, in many instances a text in this
collection is a not-yet-ratified text, a Senate Treaty Document. These texts are sent by the
executive to the Senate for Advice and Consent, but do not in themselves represent the final texts.
In most cases, that text is unchanged by the process of consideration by the Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations, which reports it out as an Executive Report and then submits it for vote on the
Senate floor. The treaty process may be tracked officially at the U.S. Senate treaties page.
32
Columbia, Guide to Treaty Research,
http://www.law.columbia.edu/library/Research_Guides/internat_law/treaty_research ; Duke, Treaties,
http://www.law.duke.edu/lib/researchguides/treaties.html ; Harvard,
http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/research/guides/international/treaties_with_citations.php and
other related guides; Georgetown, Treaty Research Guide,
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/intl/guides/TreatyResearch.cfm ; UC Berkeley,
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/online/guides/international_foreign/treaties/us.html
33
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode01/usc_sec_01_00000112---b000-.html
34
“(a) The Secretary of State shall transmit to the Congress the text of any international agreement
(including the text of any oral international agreement, which agreement shall be reduced to writing), other
than a treaty, to which the United States is a party as soon as practicable after such agreement has entered
into force with respect to the United States but in no event later than sixty days thereafter. However, any
such agreement the immediate public disclosure of which would, in the opinion of the President, be
prejudicial to the national security of the United States shall not be so transmitted to the Congress but shall
be transmitted to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on International of
the House of Representatives under an appropriate injunction of secrecy to be removed only upon due
notice from the President.” 1 U.S.C. 112b (a).
35
Hein's United States treaties and other international agreements current service [microform]. Buffalo,
N.Y.: W.S. Hein, 1990- .
8
The “archive” now resides in THOMAS,36 the Congressional database created by the
Library of Congress, which contains both House and Senate documents, or in the KAV numbers
of the microfiche set described above, and via HeinOnline. Accessing the more recent treaties and
executive agreements, however, has taken resort to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 37.
Some difficulties have resulted from this electronic form of publishing prompting Georgetown to
harvest these treaty documents as part of their Chesapeake Project, an initiative to cooperate with
area libraries to download and store reports and documents, mainly governmental, which are
either “born digital” and/or too significant to risk disappearance from the internet.
“Treaty Actions” posted at the State Department web site are not full text documents, and
not conveniently searchable. They are monthly posted PDFs. Transparency in our democracy
demands that the dissemination of these texts be done in full and in a more accessible format.
The American Society of International Law in its EISIL database38 has gathered, tagged,
and abstracted a large link archive of major treaties, and so thereby greatly enhanced text location
as well as ease of citation.
36
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/treaties/treaties.html
http://www.state.gov/m/a/ips/c22790.htm; scroll down to the international agreements section.
38
http://www.asil.org/system/eisil.htm
37
9
APPENDIX
HeinOnline Digital Libraries39
I. Treaties and Agreements Library
Official Treaty Publications
United States Statutes at Large
Peters, Richard
Vols. 7-8 (1848, 1867)
United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST)
Secretary of State
Vols. 1-35 (1950-1984)
Treaties and International Act Series (TIAS)
Department of State
TIAS 11060 to TIAS 13054 (1982-1999)
KAV Agreements
(Recent State Department Agreements, Senate Treaty Documents, Trade Agreements and others)
Kavass, Igor I.
KAV 0001-8574 (1987-2009)
Unofficial Treaty Publications
Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties (Kappler)
Kappler, Charles J.
1902-1971
International Legal Materials
American Society of International Law
Vols. 1-47 (1962-2008)
Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols and Agreements (Malloy)
Malloy, William M.
Vols. 1-4 (1776-1937)
Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America (Miller)
Miller, Hunter
Vols. 1-8 (1776-1863)
Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America 1776-1949 (Bevans)
Bevans, Charles I.
Vols. 1-13 (1776-1949)
39
Among the plethora of digital libraries on their subscription database, http://www.heinonline.org, the
following libraries and publications pertain to treaties and treaty research.
10
Treaties of 1778 and Allied Documents
Chinard, G. (Editor)
Vol. 1 (1928)
Treaty Guides and Indexes
Catalogue of Treaties 1814-1918
U.S. Department of State
1 v. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1919.
Collection of Neutrality Laws, Regulations and Treaties of Various Countries
Deak, Francis & Jessup, Phillip C.
1939
Digest of the Published Opinions of the Attorneys-General and of the Leading Decisions of the
Federal Courts, With Reference to International law. Treaties, and Kindred Subjects
Vol. 1 (1877)
Guide to the United States Treaties in Force
Kavass, Igor I. & Sprudzs, Adolf
1982-2008 Title Varies: 1982-2007 as Guide to the United States Treaties in Force
Hertslet's Commercial Treaties: A Complete Collection of the Treaties and Conventions, and
Reciprocal Regulations, at Present Subsisting between Great Britain and Foreign Powers
Vols. 1-31 (1840-1840) All Published
Kavass's Current Treaty Index
Kavass, Igor I. & Sprudzs, Adolf
1st-43rd editions (1982-Fall 2008) Title Varies: 1st-42nd editions (1982-Spring 2008) as
Current Treaty Index
Treaties in Force (TIF)
Treaty Affairs Staff
1929-2008
Treaties, Books, and Texts
Air Laws and Treaties of the World
3 v. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965
American Diplomatic Code
Elliot, Jonathan
2 v. Washington: Jonathan Elliot, Junior, 1834
Bibliography of the English Colonial Treaties with the American Indians including a Synopsis of
each Treaty
De Puy, Henry Farr
1 v. New York: Printed for the Lenox Club, 1917.
11
Collection of Nationality Laws of Various Countries as Contained in Constitutions, Statutes and
Treaties
Flournoy, Richard W., ed.; Hudson, Manley O., ed.
1 v. New York: Oxford University Press, 1929.
Department of State Bulletin
Department of State
Vols. 1-89 (1939-1989)
Department of State Dispatch (See: US Department of State Dispatch )
European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies, 1917-1937.
Davenport, Frances Gardiner; Paullin, Charles Oscar (Editors)
4 v. Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1917-1937.
Limitations on the Treaty-Making Power under the Constitution of the United States
Tucker, Henry St. George.
1 v. Union, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange, 2000. Originally published: Boston: Little, Brown,
1915.
List of Indian Treaties
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives
1964
Manual of Collections of Treaties and of Collections Relating to Treaties
Myers, Denys Peter
1 v. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1922
National Supremacy Treaty Power vs. State Power
Corwin, Edward Samuel.
1 v. Gloucester, Mass.: P. Smith, 1965. Originally published: New York: H. Holt and
Co., 1913.
National Treaty Law and Practice: Austria, Chile, Columbia, Japan, The Netherlands, United
States
Leigh, Monroe et al.
Vol. 30 (1999)
Treaties, Their Making and Enforcement
Crandall, Samuel B.
1904
Treaties and Conventions Concluded between the United States of America and Other Powers
Davis, J. C. Bancroft; Haswell, John H.
2 Editions. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1873; 1889.
Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate
Congressional Research Service
2001
12
Treaties Defeated by the Senate
Holt, W. Stull
1933
US Department of State Dispatch
Bureau of Public Affairs
Vols. 1-10#10 (1990-1999) All Published
II. United Nations Law Collection Library
Treaty Related Publications
Collection of All the Treaties of Peace, Alliance, and Commerce, between Great-Britain and
Other Powers, from the Treaty Signed at Munster in 1648, to the Treaties Signed at Paris in 1783
Jenkinson, Charles
3 v. London: Printed for J. Debrett, Opposite Burlington House, Piccadilly, 1785
Final Clauses of Multilateral Treaties: Handbook
New York: United Nations, 2003.
League of Nations Treaty Series
Vols. 1-205 (1920-1946)
Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General
New York: United Nations, 2006.
Statement of Treaties and International Agreements
1983-current
Treaty Handbook
New York: United Nations, 2006.
United Nations Treaty Series
Vols. 1-2398 (1946-current)
United Nations Treaty Series - Indexes
Vols. 1-2300 (1946-current)