issues at the intersection of treaty and custom (for example,
could the U.S. become bound to provisions of a treaty it explicitly
chose not to ratify when those provisions become viewed as customary
law?) that are beyond the scope of this piece. This article only
provides a quick introduction to the topic of international law for
lawyers who need the big picture. It is a picture that now includes all
1Thomas Buergenthal & Sean A.
Murphy, Public International Law 1 (3d ed. 2002).
2Restatement (Third) of Foreign
Relations Law § 101.
3Statute of the International Court
of Justice, Oct. 24, 1945, art. 38, 59 Stat. 1055.
4Louis Henkin, Gerald L. Neuman,
Diane F. Orentlicher & David W. Leebron, Human Rights 297
5Black's Law Dictionary 1540 (8th
6Henkin, supra note 4, at
7David J. Bederman,
International Law Frameworks 38 (2001).
8U.S. Reservations, Understandings,
and Declarations, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
138 Cong. Rec. 8068 (1992).
9Bederman, supra note 7,
(Third) of Foreign Relations Law § 313.
11Henkin, supra note 4,
12U.S. Const. art. VI.
13Id. at art. III
14Bederman, supra note
7, at 163.
15Restatement (Third) of Foreign
Relations Law § 111.
16Bederman, supra note
7, at 163.
18John Quigley, U.S.
Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 22 St.
Louis U. Pub. L. Rev. 401, 401 (2003).
note 1, at 368-69.
20Restatement (Third) of Foreign
Relations Law § 102.
21Phillip R. Trimble,
International Law: United States Foreign Relations Law 182
22Bederman, supra note
7, at 17.
23Id. at 18.
24Henkin, supra note 4,
25Id. at 183.
27Restatement (Third) of Foreign
Relations Law § 702 comment a.
28Id. at comment k.
note 1, at 23.
30Norway v. UK, 1951
I.C.J. 116 (1951) (upholding Norway's claims to exclusive fishing
rights; Norway not bound to customary law dealing with fishing
boundaries because it effectively dissented during creation of the
31Henkin, supra note 4,
32Restatement (Third) of Foreign
Relations Law § 702 comment n.
33Id. at § 111.
34The Paquette Habana,
175 U.S. 677 (1900).
35Id. at 700.
36Henkin, supra note 4,
37Restatement (Third) of Foreign
Relations Law § 201(4).
38Velasquez Rodriguez, 4
Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser C) (1988) (claimant need not pursue habeas
corpus remedy in Honduras in forced disappearance case in which pursuit
would be fruitless).
39Henkin, supra note 4,