Treaty Citation

CITATION FORMATS

FOR INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS

According to Bluebook rule 21.4…

“A citation to a treaty or other international agreement—other than the U.N. Charter and the League of Nations Covenant—should include the agreement’s name; parties if applicable; the date of signing; and the sources in which the treaty can be found.”

Agreement Name

Use the full English name of the agreement which tells its form (treaty, protocol, convention…) and describes its subject.

Parties
If there are three or fewer parties to the agreement, list who they are in abbreviated format according to Bluebook table T-10.  List the parties alphabetically unless the U.S. is one of the parties, in which case it is listed ahead of the alphabetical order.

Subdivisions

Identify the article, paragraph, or section of the agreement in your citation unless you are referring to the agreement as a whole.  Do not pinpoint the page in which that subdivision appears in the treaty series.

Date of Signing
Identify the month, day, and year when the treaty was signed or the range of dates within which two parties signed it.  If multiple parties signed it over a time, list one date and tell in italics that the date indicates when it was opened for signature, done, approved, or adopted.

Sources  See T.4 in the Bluebook for more sources.

x U.S.T. xxx

  U.S. Treaties & Other International Agreements

TIAS No. x
  Treaties & Other International Acts Series

xSTAT. xxx
  U.S. Statutes at Large

S. TREATY DOC. No. X

  Senate Treaty Documents

x U.N.T.S. xxx

  UN Treaty Series

x I.L.M. xxx
  International Legal Materials

Hein’s No. KAV xxxx
  Hein’s Treaties & Other Int’l Agreements