| Step 1: |
Determine if the United States is a party to the treaty. Instructions for this step are listed here. |
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| Step 2: |
Is the treaty between three or fewer parties? (Step 1 will determine this) |
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| Step 3: |
If the U.S. is a party and the treaty is with three or fewer parties, cite to the following sources (in order of preference as listed in Bluebook Rule 21.4.5(a)(i)): |
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• United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (U.S.T)
[LL2: KZ235.3 .U55] (Also available at HeinOnline) |
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• Statutes at Large (Stat.) (U.S. Treaties prior to 1950) or
[LL1: GOV. DOCS.] (Also available at HeinOnline) |
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• Treaties and Other International Acts Series (T.I.A.S.)
[LL2: KZ235.32 .U55] (Also available at HeinOnline) |
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• Senate Treaty Documents or Senate Executive Documents; (Also available at GPO Access) |
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• Department of State Dispatch [LL2: KZ231.U83] (Available here for 1990-1996 and here for 1997-1999 or on HeinOnline here.); or Department of State Press Releases. |
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| Step 4: |
If the U.S. is a party and the treaty is between four or more parties, Bluebook Rule 21.4.5(a)(ii) requires citation to one of the sources listed above as well as one source published by an intergovernmental organization if therein. The most common citations are to the following sources: |
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• United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS)
[LL2: KZ 172 .T74] (Also available in full-text as a searchable database on the UN Treaty Collection website) |
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• League of Nations Treaty Series
[LL2: KZ170.5 .T74] (Also available in full-text as a searchable database on the UN Treaty Collection website) |
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• Other treaty sources issued by intergovernmental organizations are listed here. |
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| Step 5: |
If a treaty does not appear in the required sources listed in Step 3 or 4, Rule 21.4.5(c) requires citation to: |
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• International Legal Materials (I.L.M.) [ SL1: K9 .N875] (Also available full-text on Hein Online) |
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• If not found in I.L.M., cite to one of the other unofficial treaty sources available that are listed here. |
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| Step 6: |
If the United States is not a party to a treaty, cite to: |
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• One source published by an intergovernmental organization as listed in Step 4 if therein. |
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• If not published in a source issued by an intergovernmental organization, cite to the official source of one signatory, if therein, indicating parenthetically the jurisdiction whose source is cited according to Bluebook Rule 20.1 if not otherwise obvious from the context. |
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• If the treaty is not found in a signatory’s treaty source, cite to an unofficial treaty source as listed in Step 5. |
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• For information on how to find the correct citation to a treaty that the United States is not a party to, click here. |
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