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Style and Citation Guide
For the English Language
A guide for MAS students
By Sandra Krahenmann and Katherine Del Mar
Introduction
This Guide is designed to assist the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian
Law and Human Rights (hereinafter Geneva Academy) MAS students in the writing
of semester papers, the 10-page research paper, and the Master thesis. The
guidelines set forth in this document focus on the presentation and citation rules
applicable for written papers. For more information about how to structure the content
of your papers please refer to the Legal Writing Skills document.
This Guide is divided into two sections:
1. General Writing Guidelines. These provide general guidance as to the
presentation of written assessment at the Geneva Academy;
2. Citation Rules. These rules explain how to reference sources. They are
adapted from the 2006 Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities. We
wish to thank Lindsey Cameron for the template that she provided us for this
section.
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1. General Writing Guidelines
This section is organised as follows:
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
Presentation..................................................................................................
Spelling.........................................................................................................
Quotations....................................................................................................
Footnotes......................................................................................................
Abbreviations................................................................................................
Bibliography..................................................................................................
Remarks about the International Humanitarian Law papers.........................
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2
2
3
4
5
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1.1 Presentation
In principle, written documents submitted for evaluation at the Geneva Academy
should be type written and printed from a computer on A4 paper. The text should be
spaced at 1.5 lines and in Times New Roman font, size 12. Margins surrounding the
text must be of reasonable proportions (at least 2.5 centimetres).
The length of papers (the maximum number of the pages that may be written) will be
specified by the Professor in charge of the assessment.
1.2 Spelling
Students should produce documents that are internally consistent and coherent. To
this end, consistent spelling must be used throughout a document where different
possibilities exist. Students are free to use either the U.S. or the U.K. spelling of
words (for example, organization or organisation) as long as they remain consistent
throughout the document. Please do not change alternative spellings within a
quotation.
It is essential to spell-check and carefully proof-read your documents before
submission.
1.3 Quotations
Quotations must be appropriately presented. Text that is quoted, and is of only one
sentence in length must be put within quotation marks.
Example:
2
According to Dietrich Schindler, "it is uncontested that the United Nations is bound by
the customary rules of IHL when engaged in hostilities". 1
However, if the quotation exceeds one sentence, then the text should be indented
and put in a smaller font (Times New Roman size 10).
Example:
That does not mean, however, that such principles have no legal relevance:
"Contiguity is no more than evidence raising some sort of presumption of effective occupation
– a presumption that may be rebutted by better evidence of sovereign possession by a rival
claimant".
Foreign words and Latin words should be written in italics.
1.4 Footnotes
Footnotes are to be found at the bottom of the page. The footnote refers to a number
placed at the end of a sentence, a particular point or word, depending on whether the
footnote refers to the whole sentence, the particular point or a particular word. If the
footnote refers to the whole sentence or part of a sentence, the footnote should be
placed immediately after the punctuation. One should avoid inserting more than one
footnote after the same word or sentence.
In Microsoft Word, click on the place where you want to insert your footnote:
1. Click on “Insert” (Insertion) on the tool bar, scroll down to
“References“(Références) and then click on "Footnote" (Notes de bas
de page) on the drop-down list.
2. A small window will then appear – click "Ok" – the default settings will
place the note at the bottom of the page (it is possible to set the notes
to go to the end of the entire document, this format should not be used).
When referring for the first time to a book, article or document, you must give the full
reference. When a book, article or document has already been quoted, it suffices to
give the name of the author, the beginning of the title and then the page number
being cited.
Example:
1. BROWNLIE, I., International Law and the Use of Force by States, (Oxford,
Clarendon Press 1963) at p. 5.
10. BROWNLIE, I., International Law …, at p. 250.
When citing a case, the following elements must be indicated: the name of the case
(in italics), the organ and the date.
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SCHINDLER, D., "United Nations Forces and International Humanitarian Law" in SWINARSKI, C. (ed.),
Mélanges Pictet, Geneva/ The Hague, ICRC/Nijhoff, 1984, p.526.
3
Example:
Oil Platforms (Islamic Republic of Iran v. the United States of America), International
Court of Justice, Merits, Judgement of 6 November 2003.
Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, International Court of Justice,
Advisory Opinion of 8 July 1996.
When a successive footnote refers to the same book, article or document as the
previous footnote, it is not necessary to repeat the whole reference. Instead, you use
idem and you add the relevant page number. If a third successive footnote refers to
the same book, article or document, you use ibidem (or Ibid.) and you add the
relevant page number.
To refer to a point which is explained before or afterwards in the text, it is possible to
use the Latin words infra (below) or supra (above).
Example
The UN did not ratify the GC or any other IHL instrument. However, as demonstrated
supra 2 , the UN is a subject of international law and therefore shall respect the
customary rules of humanitarian law when undertaking operations normally covered
by IHL.
Internet web sites should be cited preferably in full with the date accessed marked.
Example:
Diplomatic Conference on the adoption of a Third Protocol Additional to the Geneva
Conventions, Statement by the President of the International Committee of the Red
Cross, Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, on December 7, 2005.
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList91/FF48C1FCF1F09F3EC12570D0
00440491, accessed on 9 December 2005.
1.5 Abbreviations
Abbreviations (acronyms) should only be used when they are useful and essential.
They should be those that are regularly used and are common place (For example
ICJ for the International Court of Justice or ECHR for European Convention of
Human Rights). When using abbreviations, the name/phrase/title being abbreviated
should appear in full the first time the abbreviation is used, with the abbreviation
appearing in parentheses behind it.
Example:
2
See supra, Chapter II.A.2. a), at p. 10.
4
…International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter ICCPR)….The
ICCPR…
It is not adequate to introduce an abbreviation in the footnotes. The title of a journal
may also be abbreviated by the first letters of each principle word in the title, for
example Human Rights Quarterly becomes HRQ.
1.6 Bibliography
In order to have some homogeneity, the following structure should be followed:
BIBLOGRAPHY EXAMPLE
I)
SOURCES
A) Case law
In this section, you must classify the case law according to the organ and depending
on whether or not it is an advisory opinion or a contentious case.
Example:
1) International Court of Justice
a) Contentious cases
b) Advisory opinions
2) European Court of Human Rights
3) …
B) Resolutions
C) …
D) Others
II)
DOCTRINE
A) Books
B) Articles and contributions to collective books
C) Others
III) Web sites
Please refer to the Citation Rules (below) for guidance as to how to reference
sources in the bibliography.
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2. Citation Rules
This section is organised as follows:
2.1
2.2
Citing Legal Commentary...............................................................................
A.
Books...................................................................................................
B.
Articles.................................................................................................
C.
General Principles about Other Sources.............................................
D.
Theses.................................................................................................
E.
Conference Papers and Working Papers............................................
F.
Websites..............................................................................................
G.
Newspaper Articles..............................................................................
H.
Interviews.............................................................................................
I.
Personal Communication (including emails) .......................................
Citing International Law Sources...................................................................
A.
Treaties ...............................................................................................
i.
International Treaties................................................................
ii.
Regional Treaties......................................................................
B.
Cases and Decisions...........................................................................
i.
International Court of Justice publications................................
ii.
Other Sources of international decisions..................................
C.
Non-Governmental and other International Organisations..................
i.
United Nations documents........................................................
ii.
Regional bodies’ documents.....................................................
iii.
International Yearbooks............................................................
iv.
Collected Course of The Hague Academy of International
Law...........................................................................................
v.
International Law Association...................................................
vi.
International Law Digests.........................................................
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15
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20
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24
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2.1 Citing Legal Commentary
A. Books
Authored books
Use italics for the title, and put the publication information in roman within
parentheses. Use commas to prevent words running together, as may happen with
author and titles, multiple authors, and publisher and place of publication. Where
there are series titles or edition numbers, give the publication information in the order
shown in the example. Where many places of publication are listed on the book’s
imprint page, give only the first. The page number follows after the brackets.
Author, Title in Italics (series title, edition publisher, place date) page.
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Where a book has a title and subtitle not separated with punctuation, insert a colon.
Where there are more than three authors, cite the first author followed by ‘and
others’.
J.H. Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History (4 edn Butterworths,
London 2002) 419–21.
A.C.L. Davies, Perspectives on Labour Law (Law in Context Series, CUP,
Cambridge 2004).
Gwyne Davis, Nick Wikeley and Richard Young, Child Support in Action (Hart
Publishing, Oxford 1998).
Roy Goode and others, Transnational Commercial Law: International
Instruments and Commentary (OUP, Oxford 2004).
H.L.A. Hart, Essays in Jurisprudence and Philosophy (OUP, Oxford 1983).
Joseph Raz, Ethics in the Public Domain: Essays in the Morality of Law and
Politics (OUP, Oxford 1995).
When judges write extra-curially, they should be named as in the publication in
question.
Edited and translated books
The rules are the same, except for the insertion of ‘(ed)’ or ‘(tr)’. Where there are two
editors insert ‘(eds)’ or ‘(trs)’.
Peter Birks and Grant McLeod (trs), The Institutes of Justinian (Duckworth,
London 1987).
G. Jones (ed), Goff and Jones: The Law of Restitution (6 rev edn Sweet &
Maxwell, London 2004).
David G. Owen (ed), Philosophical Foundations of Tort Law (revd paperback
edn OUP, Oxford 1997).
T. Weir (tr), K. Zweigert and H. Kötz, An Introduction to Comparative Law
(3rd edn OUP, Oxford 1998) 286–94.
Contributions to books
Cite essays and chapters in edited books thus:
I. Brownlie, ‘The Relation of Law and Power’ in Bin Cheng and E.D. Brown
(eds), Contemporary Problems in International Law: Essays in Honour of
Georg Schwarzenberger on his Eightieth Birthday (Stevens and Sons, London
1988).
Pinpoints follow the publication material outside the brackets. It is not necessary to
give the pages of the contribution.
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B. Articles
Published articles
Give the title in roman, within inverted commas. The style for authors of articles is the
same as for authors of books. The journal title is in roman. Use the abbreviations
only for American Journal of International Law (AJIL) and European Journal of
International Law (EJIL).
Give the publication date in square brackets if it identifies the volume, and in round
brackets where the journal volumes are numbered consecutively. Do not include
issue numbers unless the page numbers begin again for each issue within a volume:
in that case put the issue number in parentheses after the volume number. Use
single inverted commas around the title and a comma between the number of the
first page of the article and the pinpoint. When the pinpoint is to a paragraph number,
put the number in square brackets and omit the comma.
Andrew Ashworth, ‘Social Control and “Anti-Social Behaviour”: the Subversion
of Human Rights’ (2004) 120 Law Quarterly Review 263, 276.
Paul Craig, ‘Constitutional Foundations, the Rule of Law and Supremacy’
[2003] Public Law 92, 96.
Marco Sassòli, ‛Legislation and Maintenance of Public Order and Civil Life by
Occupying Powers’ (2005) 16 EJIL 694.
Electronic journals
For journals that are only published electronically, give publication details as for print
journals, but also provide the website address and most recent date of access within
angled brackets:
C Penfold, 'Nazis, Porn and Politics: Asserting Control over Internet Content'
[2001] 2 JILT
accessed 27
April 2005.
Forthcoming articles and working papers
Working papers and journal/periodical articles that have been accepted for
publication but are yet to be published are available online on institution websites and
sites such as the Social Science Research Network (www.ssrn.com). They should be
cited as journal articles, with impending publication details followed by (forthcoming)
and SSRN or institute publication details, as well as the web address and date of
most recent access. Date of access is particularly crucial with working papers.
F Varese, ‘The Secret History of Japanese Cinema: The Yakuza Movies’ (2006)
Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 22/2006
accessed 6 September 2006.
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C. General Principles about Other Sources
In general, follow the rules for citing books and journals. A useful guideline is to cite
documents with ISBN numbers as if they were books, or government or committee
reports. Cite documents with ISSN numbers as if they were articles. Use quotation
marks around a title. Where the author is not identified, cite the body that produced
the document; if no such body can be identified, insert two joined em dashes (like
this: —— ).
Documents sourced from the internet that are clearly available for sale in book form
should be cited as books. Otherwise, include the address of the website and date of
access. Where the document has an identifying reference number, include the
number after the title; in this case it is not crucial to include the website address in
the citation. For example:
Amnesty International, ‘Cuba: The Situation of Human Rights in Cuba’ (Report)
(20 May 2002) AI-Index AMR 25/002/2002.
Sometimes it is not clear whether a document is a book-like document (eg an Annual
Report) or an article-like document (eg a fact sheet). Sometimes the document ‘type’
can be discerned from where the document appears on a website: if the website
distinguishes between ‘policy statements’ and ‘publications’, for example, then the
former may be shorter, article-type documents, while the latter may often refer to
book-like documents. For clarity, you may wish to describe the type of document in
parentheses after the title.
Cite annual reports in the same way as Government and Committee Reports:
Johnson & Johnson, 2004 Annual Report (New Jersey 2004).
Follow this pattern for other reports, but add ‘Report’ in brackets after the title for
clarity, as shown in the Amnesty International Report example above.
Cite briefing papers, statements and fact sheets in the same way as articles, using
quotation marks for the title rather than italics:
Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Immigration and Multicultural and
Indigenous Affairs, ‘Factsheet 82: Immigration Detention’ (14 October 2004)
Canberra.
If the document is to be referred to elsewhere with an abbreviated name, place it in
brackets at the end:
European Council on Refugees and Exiles, ‘ECRE Information Note on the
Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the
qualification of third country nationals and stateless persons as refugees or as
persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the
protection granted’ (October 2004, IN1/10/2004/ext/CN)
accessed 28 September 2005
(ECRE Information Note on the Council Directive 2004/83/EC).
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Examples of various commonly cited sources follow; the list is far from exhaustive. If
there is no suitable example, follow the general guidelines given, be consistent
throughout your text, and be sure to give enough information for a reader to find a
source.
D.
Theses
Give the author, title, type of thesis, university and date of completion and pinpoint:
H. Toner, ‘Modernising Partnership Rights in EC Family Reunification Law’
(DPhil thesis, University of Oxford 2003).
E.
Conference and other papers
Cite conference papers that were only available at a conference or directly from the
author by author, title, conference title and date. Citations of conference papers that
have been published should include publication details; those that are only available
online should include a web address and date of access. This guideline also applies
to other papers.
Society of Legal Scholars, ‘A Supreme Court for the United Kingdom: Response
to
DCA
Constitutional
Consultation
Paper
11/03’
(2003)
accessed 29 April
2005 [4.1]–[4.2].
UK Parliament, ‘Unemployment by constituency’ (HC Library Research Papers
04/92,
2004)
accessed 3
April 2005.
F.
Websites
Cite information derived from an internet source, which is not covered elsewhere in
these guidelines, as follows: author (or use two joined em-dashes if author is not
identified), title, type of document (if relevant), date of issue (if available), web
address and date of access, if the document or the website may be subject to
change.
Shami Chakrabarti, ‘The End of Innocence’ (Lecture at the Centre for Public
Law
in
Cambridge
2004)
accessed 20 February 2005.
Günter Verheugen, ‘Future of EU Shipbuilding’ (Speech at New Year’s
Reception of the Committee of EU-Shipbuilders’ Associations, Speech 05/65
Europa website 2005) accessed 15 April 2005.
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G.
Newspaper articles
Cite newspaper articles in the order: author, ‘title’ newspaper (city of publication,
country of publication (if not obvious) full date) page. If the reference is to an editorial,
the author is cited as ‘Editorial’. If the author is not named, insert two joined emdashes. If the article is sourced from the web and there is no page available, provide
the website address and date of access.
I. Hawkey, ‘Italy takes a dive’ Sunday Times (London 14 May 2006) Sport 13.
E. Hobsbawm, ‘The Dangers of Exporting Democracy’ Guardian (London 22
January 2005)
accessed 10 May 2005.
H.
Interviews
If the author is also the interviewer, provide the name, position and institution (as
relevant) of the interviewee, location of the interview, and full date. If the interview
was conducted by someone other than the author, the interviewer’s name should
appear before the rest of the citation, as in the second example.
Interview with Timothy Endicott, Director of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Law,
University of Oxford (Oxford 1 April 2005).
S. Meredith, Interview with John Hood, Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford
(Oxford 1 April 2005).
I.
Personal communication (including email)
Cite emails and other personal communications as
follows:
Statement by Gareth Pierce (Personal email correspondence 2 January 2001).
Statement by Piers Morgan (Personal communication 6 September 2003).
Treat newsgroups and online bulletin board entries as personal communications.
Give author, type of statement, web address and date.
2.2 Citing International Law Sources
A. Treaties
The American Society of International Law provides a useful guide to sources of
international law (www.eisil.org), and includes information about how to cite a great
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variety of sources of international law (under the ‘More information’ links for Primary
Documents). The General Principles in Part III B, ‘Other Sources’, provide guidelines
for citing sources not dealt with in this section.
i. International treaties
If parties can accede to the treaty (which will be the case for most multilateral
treaties), cite the full date upon which the treaty was opened for signature.
Otherwise, cite the date that it was signed or adopted. If available, then give the date
it entered into force. If there is both a date of adoption and a date on which the treaty
opened for signature, cite the dates in that order. It is not necessary to list the parties
to a multilateral treaty, but parties to a bilateral treaty should be included in
parentheses immediately after the title, with the names of the parties separated by an
en-dash.
Where applicable, cite the treaty series in the following order of preference:
¾ primary international treaty series, e.g. UNTS (United Nations Treaty
Series), CTS (Consolidated Treaty Series) or LNTS (League of Nations
Treaty Series);
¾ official treaty series of one of the States parties, e.g. UKTS (UK Treaty
Series), (ATS) (Australian Treaty Series); and
¾ other international treaty series (e.g. British and Foreign State Papers).
If appropriate, an informal/shortened title may be given in parentheses before the
pinpoint reference, and used in subsequent references. Include these abbreviations
in your list of abbreviations. Standard abbreviations can be found in the Appendix.
Reference to articles of the treaty should give only the article number, not the title of
the article (if there is a title). Use either ‘article’ or the abbreviation ‘art’ in the text,
and the abbreviation in the footnotes.
Treaties should be cited from the Final Act (if that appears before the text of the
treaty itself). An example is the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees: the
Final Act appears at 189 UNTS 137, while the text of the treaty itself begins at 189
UNTS 150. The correct citation for the treaty is 189 UNTS 137. (It is not necessary to
include the words ‘Final Act’ in the citation of the treaty title.)
For post-1960 treaties not yet published in an official series, the usual source is
International Legal Materials (ILM). Prior to January 2000, the ILM volumes were
given in roman numerals. However, the ILM itself uses arabic numerals in its own
citations of ILM volumes; therefore, always cite in arabic numerals. Cite from the start
of the text, not from any introductory commentary or note.
United Nations Treaties Series
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966,
entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171 (ICCPR).
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Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (adopted 28 July 1951, entered
into force 22 April 1954) 189 UNTS 137 (Refugee Convention) art 33.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948 UNGA
Res 217 A(III) (UDHR) art 5.
Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (adopted 31 January 1967, entered
into force 4 October 1967) 606 UNTS 267 (Protocol) art 2.
UNGA International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of
Terrorism (adopted 9 December 1999, opened for signature 10 January 2000)
(2000) 39 ILM 270.
League of Nations Treaties Series and Consolidated Treaty Series
Note: sometimes the date the treaty entered into force will not be available, so just
show the date the treaty was signed or adopted.
Slavery Convention (adopted 25 September 1926, entered into force 9 March
1927) 60 LNTS 253.
Provisional Arrangement Concerning the Status of Refugees Coming from
Germany (signed 4 July 1936) 3952 LNTS 77.
The Consolidated Treaty Series (pre-LNTS treaties) are cited in a similar way. Cite
the treaty title as it appears in the CTS, with the following punctuation:
Convention between Great Britain, Japan, Russia and the United States
Requesting Measures for the Preservation and Protection of Fur Seals in the
North Pacific Ocean (signed 7 December 1911) (1911) 214 CTS 80.
Bilateral treaties
Give the names of parties to a bilateral treaty in parentheses immediately after the
title, if required for clarity.
Agreement Concerning the Sojourn of Refugees within the Meaning of the
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Geneva Convention of 28 July
1951 and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of 31 January 1967)
(France–Austria) (adopted 21 October 1974, entered into force 24 July 1975)
985 UNTS 303.
Rehabilitation and Development Co-Operation Agreement (Australia–Nauru)
(5 May 1994) ATS 1994 15.
GATT/WTO agreements
The GATT/WTO treaties are called ‘agreements’. They are negotiated and adopted in
sessions called ‘rounds’. The decision-making bodies of the WTO also adopt related
official documents, such as interpretive notes, decisions, declarations,
understandings and amendments. The agreements and related official documents
are often referred to collectively as the ‘legal instruments’ or ‘legal texts’. Only
documents relating to the period from 1 January 1995 onwards are WTO documents.
Documents relating to the period before this date are GATT documents.
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Although a number of GATT documents are available on the WTO Online Database,
the preferred source is the BISD 68 (Basic Instruments and Selected Documents).
You may find the BISD citation in Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw. The source of official
documents since 1995 is the WTO Online Database (http://docsonline.wto.org). For
post-1995 documents, cite to the WTO Online Database.
The following example of a GATT declaration gives the date of adoption; 26S to
indicate the 26th Supplement; and 205 to indicate the first page.
Declaration on Trade Measures Taken for Balance-of-Payments Purposes (28
November 1979) BISD 26S/205, 208.
The following example of a citation based on the WTO Online Database gives the
date of signing. The agreements signed at this time came into force on 1 January
1995.
Agreement on Agriculture
.
(15
April
1994)
LT/UR/A-1A/2
art
2
ii. Regional treaties
European treaties
Include both the formal and informal/shortened names of the treaty (if the latter exist)
in the first reference to a treaty. Give the informal/shortened title in parentheses
before the pinpoint reference. The abbreviated titles given in the examples below are
intended as a guide only. Authors may choose to create their own abbreviated titles
for European treaties.
Cite protocols to treaties by their names, preceded by the name of the treaties to
which they are appended. Dates are generally not given when citing European
treaties, as they may have been amended several times. Include the year if it
appears in the standard title of the treaty or if it improves clarity.
EC Treaty (Treaty of Rome, as amended) art 3b. Treaty
on European Union (Maastricht Treaty) art G5. Act of
Accession 1985 (Spain and Portugal) Protocol 34. EC
Treaty Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice.
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
(European Convention on Human Rights, as amended) (ECHR) art 3.
Other regional treaties
Follow the same pattern as for United Nations treaties, as far as possible. Some
regions or countries may have their own specific treaty series, eg the Organization of
American States Treaty Series (OAS Treaty Series). However, if cited in the UNTS,
LNTS or ILM, use that source.
14
Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area
of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Protocol of San Salvador) (entered
into force 16 November 1999) OAS Treaty Series No 69 (1988) reprinted in
Basic Documents Pertaining to Human Rights in the Inter-American System
OEA/Ser L V/II.82 Doc 6 Rev 1 at 67 (1992).
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, OAS Res XXX
adopted by the Ninth International Conference of American States (1948)
reprinted in Basic Documents Pertaining to Human Rights in the InterAmerican System OEA/Ser L V/II.82 Doc 6 Rev 1 at 17 (1992).
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (adopted 27 June 1981, entered
into force 21 October 1986) (1982) 21 ILM 58 (African Charter).
B. International Cases and Decisions
i. International Court of Justice publications
For information about publications from the ICJ, refer to the United Nations
Documentation Research Guide at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/specil.htm
and to the United Nations Bibliographic Information System website at
http://unbisnet.un.org.
The Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) (1922–45) preceded the ICJ.
The decisions and opinions of the PCIJ are published in the official reports of the
court. Yearbooks, judgments, opinions and related documents (Series A–F) from the
PCIJ are available at http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idecisions/icpij.
International Court of Justice decisions are compiled in the series Reports of
Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders. Contentious cases and advisory opinions
are also available on the ICJ web site at http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idecisions.htm.
Documentation related to cases (such as written pleadings and oral arguments) are
published after the decision in the series Pleadings, Oral Arguments, Documents (in
the language of submission—English or French). Basic documents of the court, press
releases, recent judgments, documents from cases in progress, and other important
documents are available on the ICJ website (http://www.icj-cij.org).
Cite the ICJ Report if available; otherwise cite to the website. Give dates of access
for website reports. Cite case names as they appear in the ICJ Reports. In some
instances, the word ‘case’ will appear in the title; in other instances it will not.
Examples of ICJ and PCIJ cases and pleadings follow.
Corfu Channel Case (UK v Albania) (Merits) [1949] ICJ Rep 4.
Land, Island and Maritime Frontier Case (El Salvador/Honduras, Nicaragua
intervening) (Application for Intervention) [1990] ICJ Rep 92.
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall (Advisory Opinion) 2004
accessed 21
July 2005 [139]–[142].
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Aerial Incident of July 27 1955 Case (Israel v Bulgaria) ICJ Pleadings 530.
Case Concerning the Factory at Chorzów (Germany v Poland) (Merits) PCIJ
Rep Series A No 17.
Case of the Free Zones of Upper Savoy and the District of Gex (Switzerland v
France) PCIJ Rep Series A/B No 46.
Case Concerning the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (Germany v
USA) (Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures: Order) General List
No 104 [1999] ICJ 1.
Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime
of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro) (Pending)
ICJ Press release 2004/37
accessed 27 July 2005.
ii. Other sources of international decisions
The International Law Reports (ILR) is a source of international court and tribunal,
arbitration and municipal decisions. It has been published continually since 1919, but
under different titles:
¾ volumes 1–6 (1919–32) were published as Annual Digest of Public
International Law Cases;
¾ volumes 7–16 (1933–49) were published as the Annual Digest and Reports
of Public International Law Cases;
¾ from volume 17 (1950–) it has been published as the ILR.
Other general sources of reports on international cases include International Legal
Materials (ILM, 1962-), International and Comparative Law Quarterly (ICLQ, 1952-),
Reports of International Arbitral Awards (RIAA, or Recueil des Sentences Arbitrales)
and various other reports and case books. Some examples of citations from these
sources follow.
Lawler Incident (1860) 1 McNair Intl L Opinions 78. Tinoco
Arbitration (GB v Costa Rica) (1923) 1 RIAA 369. Delimitation of the
Continental Shelf (UK v France) (1979) 54 ILR 6.
Rainbow Warrior (New Zealand v France) (Arbitration Tribunal) (1990) 82 ILR 499.
Steiner and Gross v Polish State (1927–28) 4 Annual Digest Public Intl L 291.
Dolan (1955) 4 ICLQ 629.
International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes Marvin
Feldman v Mexico (2003) 42 ILM 625.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights Barrios Altos Case Chumbipuma
Aguirre et al v Peru (2002) 41 ILM 91.
16
International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
Decisions of these tribunals are published in several different reports series. The
Judicial Reports/Recueils judiciaires of the ICTY and the Reports of Orders,
Decisions and Judgements of the ICTR comprise all public indictments, decisions
and judgments issued in a given year (in English and French). Cite ICTY and ICTR
decisions as follows: Case name (Decision type) ICTY-year#-case# (date).
Alternatively, it is acceptable to cite from International Legal Materials or International
Human Rights Reports.
Tadic Case (Judgment) ICTY-94-1 (26 January 2000).
Prosecutor v Tadic (Jurisdiction) (1996) 3 Intl Human Rights Rep 578. Prosecutor v
Akayesu (Judgment) ICTR-96-4-T, T Ch I (2 September 1998).
Prosecutor v Tadic (Judgment in Sentencing Appeals) (2000) 39 ILM 635.
Nuremberg Tribunal
Judgments of the Tribunal are published in the American Journal of International
Law.
Judgment of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal 1946 (1947) 41 AJIL 172.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)
The Judgments and Orders delivered in cases submitted to the Tribunal are
reproduced in the series Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders, and
are also available on the ITLOS website (http://www.itlos.org) under Proceedings and
Judgments. Other ITLOS sources, such as resolutions or agreements can be found
on the same site under Documents/Publications.
/ M/V ‘Saiga’ (No 2) (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v Guinea) (Provisional
Measures, Order of 11 March 1998) ITLOS Reports 1998, 24.
/ M/V ‘Saiga’ (No. 2) (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v Guinea) (Provisional
Measures, Order of 11 March 1998, Sep. Op. Laing) ITLOS Reports 1998, 46.
ITLOS Press Release, ‘Application Filed on Behalf of Belize against France for
Release of Arrested Fishing Vessel’ (21 March 2001) ITLOS/Press 46.
World Trade Organization (WTO/GATT) decisions
There are two ways of citing WTO decisions. The first is to the WTO Online Database
(http://docsonline.wto.org). Cite the title, date of decision, and WTO catalogue
number and pinpoint to paragraphs. Cite the website of the WTO Online Database in
the first relevant footnote in each article/chapter.
17
Alternatively, cite to the Dispute Settlement Reports (DSR). This series comprises
panel and appellate body reports published by the WTO in conjunction with
Cambridge University Press. The delay in publication of the DSR means that most
scholars will cite the online documents. The DSRs are cited in the same manner as
law reports. Here pinpoint references are to pages, although many readers without
access to the DSRs may find an additional paragraph reference helpful.
For GATT decisions, cite the BISD (Basic Instruments and Selected Documents)
where available. In the example given below, 3S means 3 Supplement and 81 is the
page reference. The BISD can be found in Butterworth’s Lexis and Westlaw.
Swedish Anti-Dumping Duties (1955) GATT BISD 3S/81, 82.
WTO, India: Measures Affecting the Automotive Sector—Report of the Appellate
Body (19 March 2002) WT/DS146/AB/R and WT/DS175/AB/R [10]–[25].
WTO, Brazil: Export Financing Programme for Aircraft—Recourse to
Arbitration by Brazil under Article 22.6 of the DSU and Article 4.11 of the
SCM Agreement—Decision by the Arbitrators (28 August 2000)
WT/DS46/ARB.
United States—Anti-Dumping Duty on Dynamic Random Access Memory
Semiconductors (DRAMS) of One Megabit or Above from Korea (WT/DS99)
[1999] 2 DSR 519, 521.
International Labour Organization (ILO) recommendations
The ILO issues various documents relating to international labour law, including
recommendations, conference reports, governing body documents, reports and
conclusions of the Committee on Freedom of Association, and comments by the
Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations,
among others.
ILO Recommendation R020: Labour Inspection Recommendation
(Recommendation Concerning the General Principles for the Organization of
Systems of Inspection to Secure the Enforcement of the Laws and Regulations
for the Protection of the Workers) (5 Conference Session Geneva 29
November 1923).
Canada (Case No 2145) (3 July 2001) Report of the Committee on Freedom of
Association No 327 (Vol LXXXV 2002 Series B No 1).
International Labour Conference (88 Session) Resolution II: Resolution
Concerning HIV/AIDS and the World of Work (Geneva 13 June 2000).
Permanent Court of Arbitration
The main awards and adjudications of the PCA are published in Scott (ed) Hague
Court Reports (1916, 1932). Other awards are published in Moore History and Digest
18
of the International Arbitrations to which the United States has been a Party (1898) 6
vols. Each has its own method of citation.
North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Case (GB v USA) (1910) Scott Hague Court Rep 141.
Alabama Claims Arbitration (1872) 1 Moore Intl Arbitrations 495.
Iran–United States of America Claims Tribunal
Starrett Housing Corporation v Iran (1983) 4 Iran-USCTR 122.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Judicial publications of the IACHR can be found in the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights Series A–E. Judgments and decisions are in Series C. Documents
can be sourced from the IACHR website (http://www.corteidh.or.cr) or the University
of Minnesota Human Rights Library website (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iachr).
Juridical Condition and Rights of the Undocumented Migrants, Advisory
Opinion OC-18, Inter-American Court of Human Rights Series A No 18 (17
September 2003).
Blake Case (Interpretation of Reparations Judgment (Article 67 American
Convention on Human Rights) Inter-American Court of Human Rights Series
C No 57 (1 October 1999).
C. Non-Governmental and Other International Organisations
i. United Nations documents
When citing documents from the major bodies of the United Nations, include the
unique document reference numbers that identify both the body from which the
document issues and the nature of the document. It is not necessary to cite the
Security Council Official Records (UNSCOR) and General Assembly Official Records
(GAOR). After the first mention, abbreviate ‘United Nations’ to ‘UN’; ‘UN Security
Council’ to ‘UNSC’; ‘UN General Assembly’ to ‘UNGA’; and ‘Resolution’ to ‘Res’. Cite
the full names of lesser known, or more specialized, UN organs or bodies, rather than
their abbreviations. Do not cite resolution titles, unless it is particularly useful to do
so. Further guidelines for finding and citing UN documents are available in the UN
Documents Resource Guide (www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide) and in Stanford
University’s Johnsson Library Guide to Government Publications Series (wwwsul.stanford.edu/depts/jonsson/int/un.html).
Generally speaking, cite UN documents in the following order: author, ‘title’ date
document number. Italicize the title of a UN document only if it has been published as
a book (ie, it has an ISBN), in which case the UN Doc number is not necessary. Cite
full titles in the first citation, and shortened titles thereafter. Examples follow:
19
UNGA Res 2621 (1970) GAOR 25 Session Supp 16, 10.
UNSC Res 770 (1992) SCOR Resolutions and Decisions 24.
UNSC Res 1373 (28 September 2001) UN Doc S/RES/1373.
UN Security Council (UNSC)
UNSC Res 1373 (28 September 2001) UN Doc S/RES/1373.
UNSC Presidential Statement 38 (2000) UN Doc S/PRST/2000/38.
UNSC Verbatim Record (28 September 2001) UN Doc S/PV/4385.
UNSC ‘Security Council, Briefed by Chairman of Counter-Terrorism
Committee, Stresses Need for All States to Report on Anti-Terrorism Efforts’
(15 April 2002) Press Release SC/7361.
UN General Assembly (UNGA)
UNGA Res 3314 (XXIX) (14 December 1974).
UNGA Res 51/210 (17 December 1996) UN Doc A/RES/51/210.
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and
Peoples, UNGA Res 1514 (XV) (14 Dec 1960) (adopted by 89 votes to none; 9
abstentions).
UNGA ‘Report of the Special Committee on Principles of International Law
Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States’ UN GAOR
25th Session Supp No 18 UN Doc A/8018 (1970).
UNGA Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly, Rule 98 UN Doc
A/520/Rev 15 (1984).
UN Sixth Committee
Guidelines for citing documents from the Sixth Committee can be found in the UN
Documents Research Guide (http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/specil.htm).
UNGA Sixth Committee (56th Session) ‘Report of the Working Group on
Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism’ (29 October 2001) UN Doc
A/C.6/56/L.9.
UN Secretary-General
Documents of the Secretary-General are usually cited by reference to the UN body or
organ to which the Secretary-General’s documents are addressed.
UNGA ‘Report of the Secretary-General 65/190’ (2001) UN Doc A/56/190.
20
Report of the Secretary-General, ‘Rape and Abuse of Women in the Territory
of the Former Yugoslavia’ (1994) UN Doc E/CN.4/1994/5.
UN Commission on Human Rights
UNCHR Res 37 (2001) UN Doc E/CN.4/RES/2001/37.
UNCHR, Fourth Special Session 23–24 September 1999 ‘Report of the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Human Rights Situation in East
Timor’ (17 September 1999) UN Doc E/CN.4/S-4/CRP.
UNCHR ‘Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’ (21 January
1992) UN Doc E/CN.4/1992/20.
UN Special Rapporteurs or Representatives
UNCHR (Sub-Commission), ‘Report by Special Rapporteur Kallopi K Koufa
2001/31’ (2001) UN Doc E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/31.
UNCHR ‘Compilation and Analysis of Legal Norms, Report of the
Representative of the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons’ (5
Dec 1995) UN Doc E/CN.4/1996/52/Add.2.
UNCHR ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture’ (1986) UN Doc
E/CN.4/1986/15.
UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies
UNCHR ‘General Comment 18’ in ‘Note by the Secretariat, Compilation of
General Comments and General Recommendations adopted by Human Rights
Treaty Bodies’ (1994) UN Doc HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1.
UNCHR ‘Comment on Egypt’s Second Periodic Report on Implementation of the
ICCPR’ (9 December 1993) UN Doc CCPR/C/79/Add.23.
UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, ‘General Recommendation No 19’ in ‘Note by the Secretariat,
Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted
by Human Rights Treaty Bodies’ (29 July 1994) UN Doc HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1.
Barbato v Uruguay (1982) 2 Selected Decisions of the Human Rights
Committee 112.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
UNHCR EXCOM Conclusion No 64 (XLI) ‘Refugee Women and
International Protection’ (1990).
UNHCR ‘Report of the 45th Session of the Executive Committee of the High
Commissioner’s Programme (Geneva 3–7 October 1994)’ (11 October 1994)
UN Doc A/AC.96/839.
UNHCR ‘Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women’ (Geneva 1991).
21
UNHCR ‘UNHCR’s Operational Experience with Internally Displaced
Persons’ (Division of International Protection Geneva 1994).
Diplomatic Conferences
‘Report of the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International
Criminal Court’ UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the
Establishment of an International Criminal Court (Rome 15 June–17 July
1998) (14 April 1998) UN Doc A/CONF.183/2/Add.1.
‘Final Act of the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the
Establishment of an International Criminal Court’ (17 July 1998) UN Doc
A/CONF.183/10.
United Nations Year Book (UNYB)
UNGA ‘Questions Relating to International Terrorism’ (1972) UNYB 649.
UNGA ‘Report of the Ad Hoc Committee’ (1979) UNYB 1146.
International Law Commission (ILC)
Information about the International Law Commission may be found at
. Online research relating to the work of the
Commission may be conducted in UNBISnet. Guidelines for citing documents from
the Sixth Committee can be found in the UN Documents Research Guide
(http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/specil.htm).
ILC, ‘Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of its 42nd
Session’ (1 May–20 July 1990) UN Doc A/45/10.
League of Nations Official Journal (LNOJ)
Aaland Islands Case (1920) League of Nations Official Journal Spec Supp 3, 3.
Other UN agencies
World Food Programme, ‘Report to the Economic and Social Council’ (23
September 1996) WFP/EB.3/96/3.
UN Development Programme (Emergency Response Division), ‘Building
Bridges between Relief and Development’ (1996).
Executive Board of the UN Development Programme and the UN Population
Fund, ‘Report of the Administrator’ (15 March 1996) DP/1996/18/Add.2.
UNICEF ‘Emergency Operations’ (1 December 1995) E/ICEF/1996/7.
WHO (Resolution of the Executive Board) ‘Emergency and Humanitarian
Action’ (27 January 1995) EB95.R17.
22
ECOSOC ‘Enlargement of the Commission on Human Rights and the Further
Promotion of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms’ Res 1990/48 (25
May 1990).
ii. Regional bodies’ documents
Organization for African Unity (Council of Ministers) ‘Proposals for an OAU
Mechanism for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, Report of SecretaryGeneral’ (OAU Addis Ababa 1992) CM/1710 (L.VI).
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) ‘The OSCE in PostDayton Bosnia’ (17 January 1994) 17 CSCE Digest 2.
Commonwealth of Independent States, ‘Report of the Conference’ (4 July 1996)
CISCONF/1996/6.
Organization of American States, ‘Legal Situation of Refugees, Returnees and
Displaced Persons in the American Hemisphere’ General Assembly Res AG/Res 1214
(XXIII-O/93) (Washington DC 11 June 1993).
iii.
International Yearbooks
Cite these in the same way as journals/periodicals. If the Yearbook uses roman
numerals for volume numbers, use roman numerals in your citation. Where
documents are printed in English and French, cite in the language you used, as
shown below.
R. Jennings, ‘The Role of the International Court of Justice’ (1997) 68 British
Ybk Intl L 10.
L.C. Green, ‘Canada’s Role in the Development of the Law of Armed
Conflict’ (1980) XVIII Canadian Ybk Intl L 91.
‘The Council of Europe (C of E) in 1999: Its Main Work’ (1999) XLVII
European Ybk C of E 1.
‘Le Conseil de L’Europe: Principales activités pour l’année 1999’ (1999)
XLVII Annuaire Européen (C de E) 1.
iv.
Collected Courses of The Hague Academy of International Law
Cite Recueil des Cours de l’Académie de Droit International in full on the first
occasion, and abbreviate subsequently to Recueil des Cours. Cite the volume year
(which is not necessarily the same as the publication year). Up until 1995, volumes
(tomes) were divided into parts, signified by roman numerals. Omit the roman
numeral for the part, and cite the year and volume instead. The final reference is the
page number where the article starts.
E McWhinney, ‘Judicial Settlement of Disputes: Jurisdiction and Justiciability’
(1990) 221 Recueil des Cours de l’Académie de Droit International 9.
23
v.
International Law Association
Cite in a similar manner to an edited book, with the place and year of the conference
in parentheses after the title.
Committee on International Commercial Arbitration, ‘Interim Report on Public
Policy as a Bar to Enforcement of International Arbitral Awards’ in
International Law Association Report of the Sixty-Ninth Conference (London
2000) (International Law Association, London 2000) 340 (Interim Report) 345.
Cultural Heritage Law Committee, ‘Heritage Law Creation—First Report’ in
International Law Association Report of the Sixty-Seventh Conference
(Helsinki 1996) (International Law Association, London 1996) 15, 31.
vi.
International Law Digests
Digests edited by Whiteman or Hackman give the author’s name in the title. Indicate
the main topic area in quotation marks, followed by the year (if given) or volume
number. The § indicates the section referred to, while a pinpoint reference refers to a
page number.
Since 1981, the Digest of US Practice in International Law has become a Cumulative
Digest of US Practice in International Law. Roman numeral volume numbers must
therefore be inserted immediately after the year.
‘Aviation’ 9 Whiteman Digest Inl L §4, 323.
‘Subjects of International Law’ (1979) Digest of US Practice Intl L §2, 110.
‘Peaceful Settlement of Disputes’ (1981–88) III Cumulative Digest of US
Practice Intl L §2, 3190.
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