If a treaty does not appear in any of the sources discussed above, cite International Legal Materials
(I.L.M.). If it does not appear in I.L.M., cite another unofficial treaty source, including the websites
of governments and intergovernmental organizations, electronic databases, and sources such as the
Foreign Relations of the United States series, Parry’s Consolidated Treaty Series, Hein’s microfiche
treaty service, and Martens Nouveau Recueil. If none of these sources works, cite a book or
periodical.
Olivos Protocol for the Settlement of Disputes in Mercosur art. 6, Feb. 18, 2002, 42 I.L.M.
2.
Agreement Concerning Payments for Certain Losses Suffered During World War II, Fr.-
U.S., Jan. 18, 2001, Temp. State Dep’t No. 01-36, 2001 WL 416465.
II. INTERNATIONAL LAW CASES
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.
A.
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.