Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2000

Legal Digest Begins Renewed Publication

The Office of the Legal Adviser is pleased to announce the publication of the Digest of United States Practice in International Law for calendar year 2000. This is the first volume of a renewed annual publication, continuing a tradition dating back to 1886. In order to make the full text of documents excerpted in the 2000 Digest readily accessible, the volume includes citations to Internet or other public sources. This listing has been created for documents for which no other readily available source may exist. In preparing the documents on this website, some alterations in format have occurred from the original, which may, for instance, affect pagination or spacing slightly. The 2000 Digest continues a time-honored practice of providing the public with a ready source of current information on the views and practice of the Government of the United States in the arena of public and private international law. Early publications contained comprehensive analyses of selected areas of international law in multi-volume encyclopedias by Francis Wharton (1886), John Bassett Moore (1906), Green Hackworth (1940-43) and Marjorie Whiteman (1963-1971).

Beginning in 1973, the Digest was published on an annual basis and changed its focus to documentation current to the year rather than the earlier comprehensive subject analyses. As the Preface of the 1973 volume explained, the annual digest was to be "shaped almost totally by the international legal events of the year under review." That approach continued in annual volumes through 1980 and in a three-volume set covering the period from 1981-1988. Since then, due to the constraints of time and resources, no additional volumes have been published until this year. While the overall focus remains as in the previous annual digests, the format has been changed to ensure that, to the extent practicable, broad coverage of significant developments is made available to the public as quickly as possible after the end of the covered year.

To accomplish this goal, the 2000 Digest relies heavily on sizable excerpts from relevant documents introduced by short explanatory notes to provide the reader with some background for understanding the significance and context of the items which have been included. Selections were made based on judgments about the significance of the issues, their possible relevance for future situations, and their likely interest to scholars and other academics, government lawyers and private practitioners. The current volume has been edited by Sally Cummins and David Stewart of this Office. Work is under way on additional volumes covering the years 1989 through 1999, and on a volume for 2001.

The Digest of U.S. Practice in International Law for calendar year 2000, as well as for calendar years 2001, and 2002 and 1989-90, is available for purchase from the International Law Institute, The Foundry Building, 1055 Thomas Jefferson St.NW,, Washington, DC 20007. Contact Peter Whitten, Director of Publishing, at (202) 247-6006.

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