Research Guides & Bibliographies



International War Crimes Seminar

Research Session

January 28, 2009

Library Basics

Start with Scholar, the library catalog, to search for books and journals in the law library and university library. If the library does not have a source you need, you can request it through OhioLINK or inter-library loan (ILL). Please allow yourself enough time to receive these materials. Use the WorldCat database for the broadest book and periodicals search.

Some subject headings: aggression (international law); criminal liability (international); international offenses; war (international law); war crimes

Places to Start

Frederick K. Cox International Law War Crimes Research Portal (Case)



Robert Cryer, An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure (2007)

Reference Stacks K5000 .I587 2007

EISIL

Treatises and Key Authors

Ilias Bantekas, International Criminal Law (3rd ed.) K5165 .B35 2007 

Ilias Bantekas, Principles of Direct and Superior Responsibility in International Humanitarian Law KZ6471 .B36 2002

M. Cherif Bassiouni, International Criminal Law (2nd ed.) K5165 .I58 1998  (updated regularly)

Yoram Dinstein, The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict KZ6385 .D56 2004 

Knut Dörmann, Elements of War Crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court K5301 .D64 2003

John R.W.D. Jones, International Criminal Practice KZ6310 .J66 2003 

Covers ICTY, ICTR, ICC, SCSL, East Timor & Kosovo

William A. Schabas & Ramesh Thakur, Atrocities and International Accountability: Beyond Transitional Justice K5301 .A978 2007

William A. Schabas & Gideon Boas, International Criminal Law Developments in the Case Law of the ICTY KZ1203.A12 I5755 2003 

Dinah Shelton, Remedies in International Human Rights Law (2nd ed.) K3240 .S53 2005 

Additional and Related Titles

See general bibliography handout. This bibliography was originally compiled by Patrick S. O’Donnell, of Santa Barbara City College (2006). It included a much broader subject range and was considered a “research canon” for international law. I’ve edited the bibliography to include only international law generally, international criminal law, humanitarian law, human rights, etc. It was posted initially to PrawfsBlawg on Oct. 10, 2006.

Journal Articles

In addition a full-text periodicals search on Lexis or Westlaw, try using a periodicals index. Two examples are:

• Wilson Web Index to Legal Periodicals; and

• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

Both are available from the library’s Electronic Resources page.

Look beyond Lexis and Westlaw for full-text sources for articles. Try:

OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center -

JSTOR -

HeinOnline -

Academic Search Complete -

Or try looking through specialized journals:

• The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals Electronic resource

• International Criminal Law Review Electronic resource

Treaties

• EISIL – International Criminal Law and other topical areas.

• International Humanitarian Law – Treaties and Documents (ICRC) 100 treaties and other texts, including laws on the victims of war and the conduct of hostilities, plus the texts of the four Geneva conventions and their Commentaries.

• Websites of individual courts for foundational treaties.

• For more detailed information on treaties, see Treaty Research Guide (Georgetown).

Case Law & Court Rules

Case law and basic documents such as court rules are generally available at the website of the individual courts. Lexis and Westlaw also have databases for the ICTY and the ICTR.

If you need just a quick overview of a case from the ICTY or the ICTR, see ICTY Judgment Summaries and ICTR Judgment Summaries (American University – War Crimes Research Office).

Potential print sources for case law and other documents include International Legal Materials K9. N849, the Global War Crimes collection KZ1190 .G56 , Annotated Leading Cases (for ICTR & ICTY) KZ6310 .A55 , Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (covers the Nuremberg Trial) D804.G42 I55 , Digest of Jurisprudence of the Special Court for Sierra Leone KZ1208 .S53 L38 2007.

United Nations Documentation

You will most like encounter many U.N. documents in your war crimes research – frequently in the footnotes of secondary sources. U.N. documents have a particular citation format. Some examples include:

A/RES/53/105 – Establishment of an international criminal court (GA Resolution)

S/RES/1126 – Establishment of ICTY (Security Council Resolution)

The United Nations website, especially the sites for the General Assembly and the Security Council will have many of the most important documents.

Another key resource for U.N. documents is ODS (Official Document System of the United Nations). It is most useful if you already have a document citation.

Foreign Law & Constitutions

The number #1 starting point for foreign law is the database Foreign Law Guide. Another solid online resource is WorldLII (World Legal Information Institute). The Library of Congress created the GLIN (Global Legal Information Network), which focuses heavily on Latin American countries.

Finally, if you can’t find the country you’re researching in any other source, the looseleaf set Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia will most likely have it. (See K530 .M62 on Base level). For more detailed information on foreign law research, see this Foreign & Comparative Law Research Guide (Georgetown).

One of the more reliable sources for world constitutions is Constitutions of the Countries of the World (updated regularly – K3157 .A2 B537). There are many Internet sources for constitutions, but be careful to check their currency. Some examples include:

• Constitution Finder

• International Constitutional Law

• National Constitutions

Citation Help

Consult the Bluebook (18th edition) Rule 21 on international materials. For foreign law, see Table 2 on foreign jurisdictions.

For help deciphering abbreviations in footnotes, try the online Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.

Two places to check for citation suggestions on treaties and some other materials are:

• Frequently-Cited Treaties and Other International Instruments (UofMinn)



• EISIL – More Information (Legal Citation)

for example: Rome Statute -

Additional Websites of Interest

• Cambodian Genocide Program (Yale)

• Cambodia Tribunal Monitor

• Khmer Rouge Trial Taskforce

• Avalon Project & Project Diana (Yale)

• International Criminal Tribunals (UofMinn)

• Project on International Courts and Tribunals (PICT)

Research Guides & Bibliographies

International Criminal Law (Duke)



ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: International Criminal Law



GlobaLex: International Criminal Courts for the Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone: A Guide to Online and Print Resources



Annette Demers, Women and War: A Bibliography of Recent Works, 34 Int’l J. Legal Info. 98 (Spring 2006)

Bibliography on International Criminal Law (Peace Palace Library)



Bibliography on International Humanitarian Law (Peace Palace Library)



Research Services & Research Consultations

Research services librarians are there to assist you any basic research question. They have extensive hours:

Monday – Thursday 9am – 8pm

Friday 9am – 6pm

Saturday 9am – 2pm

You can schedule a personal research consultation with me to discuss your memorandum. Contact me by email (amy.burchfield@law.csuhohio.edu), phone 687-6885 or stop by my office in the library, near the Information Services Desk.

Prepared by Amy Burchfield

January, 2009

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