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International Law: General Sources: U.S. implementing legislation, cases & legislative history

This guide lists essential sources for researching general aspects of international law. For specialized topics, such as human rights and international arbitration, see the guide International Law: Specialized Sources.

Finding any U.S. implementing law & cases

First, determine if the treaty required U.S. implementing legislation. See U.S. Treaty Implementation, in Heidi Frostestad Kuehl & Megan A. O'Brien, International Legal Research in a Global Community at 37, which recommends that books and articles on the treaty can be a good starting place for determining if there is domestic implementing legislation, and if so, to look for citations to the law and cases. If you think there is implementing legislation, another good starting point is look up the treaty name in the Popular Name Table of, or indexes to, U.S.C.A. and also consult any cases listed in the annotations to U.S.C.a.