Oxford law students should follow the guidance of OSCOLA.
This names the sources of the first rank as:
Where the treaty has not been published in one of the above, try next the
For post-1960 treaties not yet published in any of above, use the International Legal Materials (ILM) citation.
Other abbreviations you may encounter in English language texts, and where to find them online:
Australian Treaty Series (ATS)
Canadian Treaty Series (CTS)
European Treaty Series (ETS/CETS) European Treaty Series between 1949 & 2003 (ETS No. 001 to No.193 inc.) Council of Europe treaties
were designated ETS. Since 2004 both these and subsequent treaties should be cited as CETS. The ETS form is of course still found in older publications.
Indian Treaty Series (INTSer)
New Zealand Treaty Series (NZTS)
Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) United States of America
For countries in the Anglo-American Legal Tradition it is quite common to have access to both an official/government website, and one provided by the national Legal Information Institute.
Official website Official website Official website Free resource from LII of India Official website Free resource. From NZLII. From 1944 - 2012 (as of 2021) Official websiteIf the treaty is "historical" (concluded between 1648 and 1919.) with a citation including CTS
Holders of an Oxford SSO can access full text of The Consolidated Treaty Series (CTS), each treaty available as a PDF.
Alternative names: OHT ; CTS
Oxford Historical Treaties (OHT) makes the full text of The Consolidated Treaty Series (CTS) available online, each treaty available as a PDF. Parry's CTS is considered the most comprehensive collection of treaties (from all nations)for the period 1648 to 1919.
If the citation includes LNTS or UNTS
Holders of an Oxford SSO have access to British and Foreign State Papers (1812-1814) 1 - (1961-68) 170 AND League of Nations (LNTS) & United Nations (UNTS) as well as the US Treaty Library (TIAS))
Alternative names: Hein Online ; HOL
HeinOnline includes five major collections: The Law Journal Library includes over 500 U.S., U.K., Australian and International Law Journals. For most journals the date coverage starts very early (in many cases at the first issue). However the most recent editions (within the last calendar year) are sometime unavailable due to licensing restrictions. HeinOnline makes these journals available on a rolling yearly basis. The Treaties and Agreements Library includes all U.S. treaties and agreements including those in force, expired or yet to be published. The U.S. Supreme Court Library includes all U.S. Supreme Court opinions as published in the U.S. Reports The Federal Register 1936-1995, and indexes to the register. Legal Classics Library. Full text of over 100 legal texts including Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Cardozo's Growth of the Law (1924), and Story's first edition of Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833). Provincial Statutes of Canada includes Provincial Statutes for ten of the Canadian provinces. Contains public and private acts passed by Canadian provincial governments. Current, revised, and historical content is now available for Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. Historical and revised content only is available for Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. All content consists of scanned images of the original printed editions. This allows you to view the content as it originally appeared in print complete with page numbers and pictures. To save or print articles from HeinOnline choose PRINT OPTIONS followed by DOWNLOAD AS PDF. You will then be able to print out and/or save articles using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If the citation includes UKTS
Official website maintained by FCO: "provides an official record of the UK's treaty obligations under international law and is sourced by Treaty Section of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. UKTO gives access to information on over 14,000 treaties to which the UK is or has been a party with links to texts of command papers published in the UK Treaty Series from 1892."
If the citation includes ILM
Requires Oxford SSO for remote access. ILM can be first print journal to pick up new treaties, recent judgments etc as well as providing articles. HeinOnline + JSTOR current combined have full run. Or see More for other provides of parts of ILM
LexisLibrary has both a library of texts of treaties & agreements drawn from I.L.M. (1975 to "date" ie within 2 weeks of publication of latest issue of ILM.) & full run of journal. For full journal from home page, click on Sources tab. Change UK to International. Click the letter I. Select & ok International Legal Materials. In the search box if you want to search by citation, you need to include the full stops in the abbreviation eg 42 I.L.M. 2. (The use of " " around the citation is optional) If you just want a treaty text: on initial Source page - change UK to International - then put ILM in the Find a source box to right.