Law of Treaties: IALS Library Guides

Guide last updated October 2024

This guide aims to give a brief introduction to the Library's holdings on the Law of Treaties. Please consult the Library Catalogue for complete information on current titles and locations. If you require further assistance please contact us.

Monday-Friday 9:30-17:00
Tel (0)20 7862 5790
Email ials@sas.ac.uk

This Subject Guide only lists a selection of Library resources on the Law of Treaties. To find additional resources you will need to search the Library Catalogue, which covers the complete holdings of the Library. It is possible to search for books, journals and series of law reports by author, title or keyword. Please note it is not possible to search for individual chapters, journal articles or legislation (e.g. individual Acts or SIs).

IALS Library is mainly open access and readers are able to browse the shelves in the main collection. There are two main exceptions to this:

• Older items (marked RES or Depository on the catalogue record) are kept in the closed basement.
• Key texts for LLM students are often kept in the Short Loan collection.

Please request these at the Library Enquiry Desk.

For more information on understanding the catalogue record and further guidance on the location of materials please refer to our guide Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.

The Library classifies textbooks either by jurisdiction (GO13, GA2 etc.) or according to subject area, examples of which include Comparative Law (SB), Public International Law (SG) and Private International Law/ Conflict of Laws (SH). Textbooks on Common Law topics for Common Law jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, USA) are shelved in a special section (SJ). All classmark sections have a FOL section for oversize volumes, which is located on the same floor of the Library.

When you are searching the Library Catalogue for books, please note that only the current edition is held on the open shelves or in the Short Loan collection. IALS has a rich collection of previous editions held in the closed basement and these will display a Depository number on the catalogue. Please request previous editions from the Library Enquiry Desk. 

Treaties and Law of Treaties material is shelved at SG35 and SG40.

The following list represents a selection of textbooks on Law of Treaties. Please check the catalogue records for further information and location. Titles marked as e-books may also be available in print. Access from home requires your IALS library barcode and your  family name.  E books with 'open access' status on the catalogue are available to all users of this guide. 

Barrett, J. and others  Handbook on good treaty practice  CUP 2020 (e-book)

Bowman, M.   Conceptual and contextual perspectives on the modern law of treaties  CUP 2018 (e-book)

Brownlie, I. Basic documents in International law. 6th ed. 2009  

Buga, I. Modification of Treaties by Subsequent Practice. 2018. OUP (e-book)

Chesterman, S. and others Oxford handbook on United Nations treaties.  OUP 2019 (e-book)         

Corten, O & Klein, P. The Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties 2011 OUP  (e-book)      

Dougan, M. & Currie, S. 50 years of the European treaties: looking back and thinking forward. 2009         

Evans ed.  International law 6th ed. 2024   

Evans ed. Blackstone’s International law documents  15th ed. 2021  

Fitzmaurice, M. and Merkouris, P.   Treaties in motion: the evolution of treaties from  formation to termination  CUP  2020 (e-book)

Foster, N.  Blackstone’s EU treaties and legislation  33rd ed. 2022

Hill, J.  Aust's modern treaty law and practice   4th ed. CUP 2023           

Hollis, D.  Oxford guide to treaties. 2nd ed. 2020.OUP  (e-book)

Klabbers, J. Treaty conflict and the European Union 2009

Kolb, R. Law of treaties   2nd ed. 2023  Elgar  (e-book)

Lang, M. and others The OECD multilateral instrument for tax treaties : analysis and effects  2018

Lang, M. and others Tax treaty entitlement 2019

McNair, A.D. Law of treaties 1961  Oxford Clarendon  (e-book)

Orakhelashvili, A. & Williams, S. ed.  40 years of the Vienna Convention on the law of Treaties 2010  

Ramcharan, B.   Fundamentals of international human rights treaty law 2011                         

Sinclair, I.   Vienna Convention on the law of treaties 2nd ed. 1984    

Vandevelde, K. Bilateral investment treaties: history policy and interpretation. 2010

Xiouri, M.    The breach of a treaty: state responses in international law  2020 CUP (e-book)      

IALS Library holds a wide selection of current serial titles on the law of treaties from many different jurisdictions. These are located on all floors of the Library. Some titles are only in printed volumes while others or available in both formats. For more detailed help, please refer to the guide on Finding journal articles. The following titles focus particularly on the law of treaties but there may be relevant articles in less specialised journals.

British yearbook of international law  e-journal

European journal of international law  open access 

International and comparative law quarterly  e-journal

International legal materials  e-journal

Max Planck yearbook of United Nations law  open access 

Treaties in force (U.S.)  e-journal

United Kingdom treaty series  open access

United Nations treaty series  open access

Kavass's current treaty index 1982- (US treaty index) (Hein) 

World treaty library (Hein)

If you are interested in legislation or cases concerning the law of treaties issues in specific countries you will need to consult the legislation or law reports for that jurisdiction.

Consult the Library Catalogue to find the general classmark for the country you require. Consult consolidations of legislation, digests or indexes to trace particular acts or cases.

Academic users may also use databases like Lexis/Westlaw to find UK, US, EU or international decisions. For further information please refer to Law Databases or ask at the Library Enquiry Desk.

You may also find it useful to refer to our guides on finding Legislation and Cases or check to see if we have a Jurisdiction Research Guide for the country you are interested in.

Eagle-i is an internet portal maintained and updated by IALS library staff. It allows you to search for quality web resources on treaties.

The following represent a sample of the available quality individual web resources on treaties.

Globalex guide to researching the drafting history of international agreements (Travaux Préparatoires) by Jonathan Pratter. Updated in 2021

http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Travaux_Preparatoires1.htm

African Union Treaties in full text.

http://www.au.int/en/treaties

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO): Treaties

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-treaties

Treaties section of Eur-Lex.  Includes founding, amending and accession treaties of the European Union and also some protocols.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties.html

United Nations Treaty Collection

https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Home.aspx?lang=en

WIPO Lex provides a search facility for intellectual laws and treaties for a wide range of jurisdictions

https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/main/legislation