International & Foreign Legal Research: Citations

Citation for an international law case largely follows rule 10 but is slightly modified. In general, it includes the following information: (1) name of the case, (2) case number, (3) reporter, if any, (4) characterization of the decision, (5) pincite, and (6) parenthetical with the date, prefaced by the name of the court if it is not evident from the citation. A decision can be characterized as judgment, order, advisory opinion, provisional measures, among others. Paragraph numbers, rather than page numbers, should be used for a pincite in an international law case.

Prosecutor v. Tadić, Case No. IT-94-1-l, Decision on Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, ¶ 70 (Int’l Crim. Trib. for the Former Yugoslavia Oct. 2, 1995).

However, the information that should be included in the citation changes depending on which court the case is in. The Bluebook provides examples of citation for cases before the following courts: International Court of Justice (or Permanent Court of International Justice), European Union Courts, European Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Inter- American Court of Human Rights, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and International Criminal Court and other international criminal tribunals. 

In the following citation examples, the relevant portion discussed in each heading or paragraph is highlighted in blue for purposes of illustration only. 

International Court of Justice / Permanent Court of International Justice (Rule 21.5.1)

Citation of a case before the International Court of Justice or its predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice, includes the following information: (1) case name, (2) parties’ names, if any, (3) characterization of the decision, if relevant, (4) volume and name of the publication in which the decision is found, (5) page or case number, (6) pincite, if any, and (7) date.

The case name should omit the word “Case” and articles but should not abbreviate the names of countries. 

Continental Shelf
Not: Case Concerning the Continental Shelf

The parties’ names are abbreviated according to T10 and appear in a parenthetical immediately following the case name. When a dispute is brought by one country against another, the parties’ names are separated by “v.” but when the parties reach a special agreement to bring a case, the names are separated by a slash. No parties are listed for advisory opinions.

Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), Judgment, 1986 I.C.J. Rep. 14, ¶ 190 (June 27).

Delimitation of Maritime Boundary in Gulf of Maine Area (Can./U.S.), Judgment, 1982 I.C.J. Rep. 560, ¶ 22 (Nov. 5).

The volume of the publication is identified by year. Cite to Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders (I.C.J.) for the International Court of Justice and cite to the seven series of P.C.I.J. (A through F, including A/B) for the Permanent Court of International Justice. I.C.J. cases are cited to the page on which they begin and P.C.I.J. cases are cited by number. Pincites should refer to specific paragraphs, if available, or pages. The date includes the month and day but not the year.

Reservations to Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide, Advisory Opinion, 1951 I.C.J. Rep. 15 (May 28).

Diversion of Water from Meuse (Neth. v. Belg.), Judgment, 1937 P.C.I.J. (ser. A/B) No. 70, at 7 (June 28). 

European Union Courts (Rule 21.5.2)

Citation of a case before the Court of Justice of the European Union, formerly the Court of Justice of the European Communities, or the General Court, formerly the Court of First Instance, includes the following information: (1) case number, (2) parties’ names, and (3) official reports of the Court, including the year of decision.

Cases lodged before the Court of Justice since 1989 will contain the prefix “C” in the case name while older cases will not have a prefix. Cases lodged before the General Court will carry the prefix “T.” The parties’ names are abbreviated according to rule 10.2 and T6. Additionally, if the Commission, Council, or Parliament of the European Union is one of the parties, give its name as “Commission,” “Council,” or “Parliament.” Cite to Reports of Cases Before the Court of Justice of the European Communities (E.C.R.) for pre-1990 cases and cite to Reports of Cases Before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance (also E.C.R.) for post-1990 cases. The year should come before the reporter abbreviation. 

Case T-198/98, Micro Leader Bus. v. Comm’n, 1999 E.C.R. II-3989.

Case C-213/89, The Queen v. Sec’y of State for Transp. ex parte Factortame Ltd., 1990 E.C.R. I-2433.

Case 58/69, Elz v. Comm’n, 1970 E.C.R. 507. 

European Court of Human Rights (Rule 21.5.3)

Citation of a case before the European Court of Human Rights includes the following information: (1) case name, (2) volume number, (3) reporter, (4) page number, if applicable, and (5) year. The year does not need to be separately indicated for recent volumes, which are numbered by year of publication. Cite to European Court of Human Rights, Reports of Judgment and Decisions (Eur. Ct. H.R.) but older decisions may also be cited to the series of Publications of the European Court of Human Rights (e.g., Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A)) or Yearbook of the European Convention on Human Rights (Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R.).

For some earlier volumes that contain only one case, the beginning page does not need to be included and page numbers may be indicated directly by “at.”

Papon v. France (No. 2), 2001-XII Eur. Ct. H.R. 235.

Kampanis v. Greece, 318 Eur. Ct. H.R. 29, 35 (1995).

Ireland v. United Kingdom, 23 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. B) at 23 (1976). 

 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Rule 21.5.4)

Citation of a case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights includes the following information: (1) case name, (2) case number, (3) volume name, (4) reporter number, including the year of decision, (5) series and docket numbers, (6) paragraph number, if applicable, and (7) year of the reporter. Cite to Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Inter-Am. Comm’n H.R.). 

Tortrino v. Argentina, Case 11.597, Inter-Am. Comm’n H.R., Report No. 7/98, OEA/Ser.L./V/II.98, doc. 7 rev. ¶ 15 (1997). 

Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Rule 21.5.5)

Citation of a case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights includes the following information: (1) case name, (2) volume number, (3) series, (4) case number, (5) page number, if necessary, and (6) date. Cite to Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-Am. Ct. H.R.). The citation should include additional information depending on whether the cited material is advisory opinion, contentious case, provisional measures, or compliance with judgment. 

For advisory opinions, the citation should include the name of the opinion, followed by “Advisory Opinion” and opinion code. Cite to Series A.

Restrictions to the Death Penalty (Arts. 4(2) and 4(4) American Convention on Human Rights), Advisory Opinion OC-3/83, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. A) No. 3, ¶ 70 (Sept. 8, 1983).

For citation of contentious cases, the case name should be followed by the matter of decision and the type of opinion. Cite to Series C.

Baldeon-Garcia v. Peru, Merits, Reparations, and Costs, Judgment, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 147, ¶ 169 (Apr. 6, 2006).

For provisional measures, the citation should include the name of the case or matter, followed by “Provisional Measures” and the type of opinion. When citing to the print reports, cite to Series E with the volume number and the first page of decision. The section name must also appear in quotes.

Bámaca Velázquez v. Guatemala, Provisional Measures, Order of the Court, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. E) No. 4, at 1, “Decides,” ¶ 2 (Sept. 5, 2001).

For compliances with judgment, the citation should include the case name, followed by “Monitoring Compliance with Judgment” and the type of opinion. When citing the print reports, include the volume number, report name, first page of decision, and section name.

Genie Lacayo v. Nicaragua, Monitoring Compliance with Judgment, Order of the Court, 1998 Rep. Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 335, “Resolves,” ¶ 1 (Aug. 29, 1998). 

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Rule 21.5.6)

Citation of a case before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea includes the following information: (1) case name, (2) parties’ names, (3) case number, (4) type of ruling and date (5) volume number, (6) publication name, (7) page number, and (8) pincite, if any. The parties’ names are abbreviated according to T10 and appear in a parenthetical. Cite to International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders (ITLOS Rep.).

M/V Saiga (No. 2) (St. Vincent v. Guinea), Case No. 2, Order of Jan. 20, 1998, 2 ITLOS Rep. 4, 5. 

International Criminal Court and Other Tribunals (Rule 21.5.7)

Citation of a case before international criminal tribunals, including the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, includes the following information: (1) case name, (2) case number, (3) type of ruling, (4) paragraph number, if necessary, and (5) date. The case name should include only one party on each side of the “v.” and only the last name of individuals. The type of ruling should include only the last name of judges, if applicable. Also, the tribunal’s name should be indicated before the date, if not included in the case number.

Prosecutor v. Katanga, ICC-01/04-01/07-3436-AnxI, Minority Opinion of Judge Wyngaert, ¶ 320 (Mar. 7, 2014). 

Adapted from Citation to International Agreements, Cases, and Arbitrations Under Bluebook 21, The Writing Center at GULC (2017).

Statutes in Common Law Systems (Rule 20.5.1)

When citing to statutes from a Common Law System, you should format your citation like a U.S. statutes (Rule 12) if the jurisdiction's statutes appear in a codification or other compilation. 

[Official Name of the Act], [volume number] [compliation abbreviation] [first page], ([date range of compliation cited]) ([jurisdiction abbreviation if not evident from context]).

For example, this citation for the Extradition Law of Israel which was published in the Laws of State of Israel (LSI), which contains the authorized English translation of legislative enactments from 1949 to 1989. You will note, according to T2, Israel statutes must contain "[Hebrew Calendar year of enactment] - [Gregorian calendar year of enactment]," shown in blue text below.:

Extradition Law, 5714-1954, 8 LSI 144, (1953-1954) (Isr.)

Otherwise, cite like statutes of the United Kingdom using Table T2.42 - United Kingdom, noting the jurisdiction parenthetically at the end of the citation if not otherwise clear from the context.

[statute short title, where available] [year(s)], c. [chapter number(s)], §(§) <section number(s)>, sch(s). [schedule(s), if any] ([jurisdiction abbreviation if not evident from context]).

It is important to always reference the Table 2 in your Bluebook for the specific jurisdiction as each jurisdiction may have its own nuances. For example this Emergency Powers Act from Ireland, Table 2.21 requires the [Act Number or Public Statute Number] / [year] be included, as shown below:

Emergency Powers Act, 1976 (Act No. 33/1976) (Ir.).

Statutes in Civil law and Other Non-Common Law Jurisdictions (20.5.2)

When citing generally to statutes in civil law or other non-common law jurisdictions, you should use the Table T2. When citing a code, do not indicate the year of the code unless citing a version no longer in force. In accordance with rule 20.2.3, use the full publication name the first time the publication is cited, indicating in brackets the abbreviation that will be used subsequently. Thereafter, the abbreviated form may be used. Give the publisher or editor and date of privately published sources only when citing an annotation rather than the code itself. 

According to Bluebook Rule 21.7, United Nations materials fall into six major categories:

1. Verbatim/Summary Records (Rule 21.7.1)

The minutes or full-text transcripts of the sessional meetings of various UN bodies can be found here. Complete transcripts of meetings or “verbatim” records as they are called by the Security Council (SC), the General Assembly(GA), and the Trusteeship Council (TC) are kept in the Official Records of those organs. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Trade and Development Board do not maintain verbatim records, just minutes. All citations to verbatim and summary records should be to the Official Records whenever possible.  References to the Official Records of these bodies are abbreviated GAOR, SCOR, etc. (See Table T.3 in the Bluebook). 

Official records also include "Annexes," which republish selected mimeographed documents. "Supplements" are also part of the Official Records.  Some supplements also contain annual reports of various commissions and committees submitted to their parent body.

U.N. GAOR, 56th Sess., 1st plen. mtg at 3, U.N. Doc. A/56/PV.1 (Sept. 12, 2001).

2. Resolutions (Rule 21.7.2):

According to the Bluebook, “[t]he final, authorized version of resolutions appear in the Official Records. However, it has become customary to cite the electronic versions found in the Official Document System (ODS) of the United Nations using resolution symbols. Cite resolutions either to the Official Records or using resolution symbols.”

General Assembly resolutions and decisions are compiled into sessional cumulations that have traditionally been published as the final supplement to the Official Records of the General Assembly. However, from the 42nd session (1987-1988) onwards, Supplement No. 49 has been designated to contain the resolutions and decisions of a given regular session. 

Security Council resolutions and decisions are compiled into annual cumulations which are issued in the S/INF/- series as part of the Official Records of the Security Council. 

G.A. Res. 47/1, ¶ 33, U.N. Doc. A/RES/47/1 (Sept. 22, 1992).

3. Reports (Rule 21.7.3)

According to the Bluebook, when citing reports from UN committees the citation should include the name of the body and the subcommittee, if any, the title of the report, the document symbol, and the date.  Many reports of major bodies of the General Assembly are printed as supplements to the Official Records.

U.N. Econ. & Soc. Council [ECOSOC], Sub-Comm. on Prevention of Discrimination & Prot. of Minorities, Working Group on Minorities, Working Paper: Universal and Regional Mechanisms for Minority Protection, ¶ 17, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/1999/WP.6 (May 5, 1999) (prepared by Valdimir Kartashkin).

4. Sales Publications (Rule 21.7.7): Sales publications are important annuals, statistical compendia, individual studies, etc., available for purchase from the UN. An example of a sales publication is the Yearbook of the United Nations.  Sales publications are assigned unique UN Sales Numbers (e.g., E.92.IV.1). When citing a Sales publication, Bluebook Rule 21.7.7(d) also requires citation to the Sales Number.

Search JACOB, the Jacob Burns Law Library’s online catalog to identify Library holdings of individual sales publications.

5. Masthead Documents (Rule 21.7.4)

Also known as "mimeographed documents", these are the first and only published format for many U.N. documents. They include draft documents, the initial publication of important items such as resolutions, as well as many ephemeral items of marginal interest to those outside the organization. Each masthead document has a U.N. document symbol (its unique identification number). There is nothing in the document symbol, however, to indicate to the user whether or not something is a mimeo document. Most collections of mimeo documents, whether in paper or microfiche, are arranged by the U.N. document symbols, for example, A/46/468.

6. Yearbooks and Periodicals (Rule 21.7.8)

The UN publishes a number of yearbooks and periodicals, such as the Yearbook of the United Nations and the U.N. Chronicle.

The Bluebook also provides rules for the citation of UN Press Releases and Memoranda (Rule 21.7.5), Adjudicatory Bodies Established by the UN (Rule 21.7.6), Regional Organization Documents (Rule 21.7.9) and the UN Charter (Rule 21.7.10).

Summary Records of the 1447th Meeting, [1977] 1 Y.B. Int'l L. Comm'n 175, U.N. Doc. A/CN.4/SER.A/1977.

UN Document Symbols

Basic Pattern of Symbols

Most U.N. documents are identified by an alphanumeric number called a "U.N. document symbol."  An example of a document symbol is: E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/23/Rev.1.  The letters in the U.N. document symbol system identify the issuing body and that body's place in the hierarchy of the U.N. organization.  In the above symbol:

E = Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); the parent body

CN.4 = Commission on Human Rights

Sub. 2 = Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities     

1993 = document year

23 = 23rd document

Rev.1 = Revision 1 of the document

Slashes (/) separate the various elements of the U.N. document symbol.  This distinguishes the symbols from other numbering systems such as U.N. sales numbers (which use periods).

Selected Key Symbols

The first letter appearing in the U.N. document symbol denotes the major U.N. organ from which the document originated.  The most common symbols and their corresponding U.N. organs are:

A/-  General Assembly
E/-  Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
S/-  Security Council
ST/- Secretariat
T/-  Trusteeship Council

Following the first slash in the U.N. document number are acronyms denoting other parent bodies:

/CCPR/- Human Rights Committee
/CERD/- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
/TD/-   U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
/UNEP/- U.N. Environment Programme

Following the second slash, letter abbreviations refer to a specific type of organization:

/AC./-   Ad-Hoc Committee
/C./-    Standing or permanent committee
/CN./-   Commission
/CONF./- Conference
/SC./-   Sub-committee
/Sub./-  Sub-commission
/WG./-   Working Group

After the third slash, the type of document is indicated by the following letters:

/PV/-   Verbatim records of meetings (procès verbaux)
/RES./ - Resolution
/SR./-   Summary record of meeting
/WP./-   Working Paper

A modification of the text is indicated after the fourth slash:

/Add./-   Addendum (Indicates an addition of text to the main document)
/Amend./- Amendment (Alteration, by decision of a competent authority, of a portion of an adopted formal text.)
/Corr./-  Corrigendum (Indicates modification of any specific part of an existing document to correct errors, revise wording, or reorganize text.)
/Rev./-   Revision (Indicates a new text which supersedes and replaces that of a  previously issued document)            

Following the fourth slash, letters denoting distribution status are listed:

/L._  Limited (documents for which wide circulation is not desired because of their temporary nature (draft resolutions, draft reports, preliminary action documents.)
/R._  Restricted (Applies to documents whose confidential contents require that they be withheld from public circulation. Note: these documents are usually unavailable)