This document provides an overview and guide to resources for researching international criminal law at La Trobe University. It outlines core legal texts from the International Criminal Court as well as databases like the Legal Tools Database and National Implementing Legislation Database. It also discusses secondary sources such as journal articles that can be accessed through databases, as well as the Oxford Public International Law database. Search techniques for different databases and resources are provided.

1. latrobe.edu.au CRICOS Provider 00115M
LAW5ICL- International Criminal Law
Kate Freedman, Clare O'Hanlon
Senior Learning Advisor
College of ASSC, School of Law
Summer 2017.

2. 2La Trobe University
Overview
 Subject Libguide:
http://latrobe.libguides.com/LAW5ICL
 ICC website
 Oxford Public International Law
 Secondary Sources

3. 3La Trobe University
ICC
 ICC core legal texts includes:
(http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/educational-resources/Pages/default.aspx)
̶ Rome Statute
http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/PIDS/publications/RomeStatutEng.pdf
̶ Rules of Procedure and Evidence
http://www.icc-
cpi.int/en_menus/icc/legal%20texts%20and%20tools/official%20journal/Documents/RulesProcedureEvidenceEng.pdf
̶ Elements of Crimes
http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/336923D8-A6AD-40EC-AD7B-45BF9DE73D56/0/ElementsOfCrimesEng.pdf

4. 4La Trobe University
Legal Tools Database- http://www.legal-tools.org/
 The Tools comprise the online "Legal Tools Database", together with legal research
and reference tools developed by lawyers with expertise in international criminal law
and justice: the Case Matrix, the Elements Digest, the Proceedings Digest and the
Means of Proof Digest.
 What is in the tools database: http://www.legal-tools.org/overview-of-the-tools/

5. 5La Trobe University
Searching the Legal Tools Database- http://www.legal-tools.org/
 Can search via a term or “multi-term
phrase” (in quotation marks)
̶ Predictive text from keywords
thesaurus
 Can search a specific field for a term by
adding a colon (:)
̶ Title: judgement
̶ Organisation: IMT or Special
Tribunal for Lebanon
 Boolean Operators
̶ AND finds both terms --
̶ OR finds one or both terms
̶ NOT excludes a term
 Wildcards
̶ Only work on singe term queries.
̶ ? Single character search- text or
test (te?t)
̶ * multiple characher search e.g.
cultur* finds culture, cultural;
Kara*ic finds Karadzic or Karazdic
̶ ~ at end of term fuzzy search e.g.
Karadzic~ finds alternate name
spellings Karadiic.
o Can combine with boolean
operators e.g. Karadzic~ AND
genocide

6. 6La Trobe University
NIDL: National Implementing Legislation Database
 The National Implementing Legislation
Database (NILD) is a fully searchable
database of national legislation which
enables users to easy identify relevant
provisions or sections of national legislation.
 View by states, keywords
 Search by keyword, implementation documents, State implementations of
particular keywords
̶ Each result displays the relevant provision in the Rome Statute (if
available) and the list of States (countries) which have implemented
this provision.
̶ Clicking on the provision number takes you to the relevant part of the
legislation.

7. 7La Trobe University
Oxford Public International Law Database
 They all interlink via the Oxford Law Citator.
̶ Can browse or search all via subject- International Criminal Law
 Max Plank Encyclopaedia on International Law
 Oxford Reports on International Law (browse or search)
̶ Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law (ICL)
 Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law (Online Books)
(Browse by book title or subject)
̶ Schabas: The International Criminal Court: A Commentary on the Rome Statute
̶ Gaeta: The UN Genocide Convention: A Commentary
̶ Cassese et al: The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice

8. 8La Trobe University
Secondary Sources: Journal Articles and Databases Coverage
AGIS
APAIS
Westlaw US,
Lexis.com: US & Canada Westlaw UK,
Lexis.com: UK
Legal Source (formally Index to Legal Periodicals) (Ebsco)
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (Hein)

9. 9La Trobe University
Foreign Law Guide (Brill)
Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law (Brill)
 Reference Database (under F and H respectively)
 Browse laws and commentary by Country and Course
 Gives introductory and online sources
UN Documents and Treaties
 UN Document Centre
̶ Find documents by entering the symbol eg. A/63/100
 United Nations Treaty Collection
̶ Tick the treaty by popular name or search via title or participants.

10. 10La Trobe University
Secondary Sources- Journal Articles via Databases
Legal Source (formerly Index to Legal Periodicals) (Ebsco)
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (Hein online)
 Use general search principles:
̶ Quotation marks: “united nations” for phrase searching
̶ Asterisk: state* for truncation- finds state, states, statehood etc..
̶ The Near operator (N#): finds words near each other regardless of word order.
o E.g.. legal N5 principles will find legal principles as well as principles of
legal reform.
̶ The Within Operator: (W#) - finds words in the order in which you entered
them.
o In the above example using W4 would find legal principles but not
principles of legal reform.
̶ Subject headings of articles help you gather related articles on a particular
topic or concept

11. 11La Trobe University
Additional Secondary Sources
Databases
 Westlaw
 Lexis.com
Newspapers
 Factiva
NOTE: We may not hold all the articles in these indexes in Full Text.
Clicking on the Full Text Finder link next to the article may bring it up or check if we
hold the article by looking for the Journal in the Library Search Journals Tab.

12. 12La Trobe University
Search Strategy: Extra Hints
 Reformulate a query based on documents identified as relevant
̶ Example:
Find a key paper and look at how it has been indexed…
̶ Choose to search terms by Subject to pick up articles that may be missed by a
key word search.
̶ Google Scholar

13. 13La Trobe University
Google Scholar
Set your preferences to retrieve La Trobe resources: scholar.google.com
 Select Settings > Library Link > add La Trobe University Library > Save
 Google Scholar vs. Library Databases
̶ state responsibility AND internationally wrongful acts
̶ The AND is needed in Library Databases.
̶ Google Scholar does NOT index everything.
̶ Use as another tool WITH the library databases.

14. Thank you
latrobe.edu.au CRICOS Provider 00115M
Any Questions?
Kate Freedman- k.freedman@latrobe.edu.au
Clare O’Hanlon: c.ohanlon@latrobe.edu.au