About i.lex

Welcome to i.lex: The Legal Research System for International Law in U.S. Courts. This online database of select U.S. court cases and related materials is designed to serve as a practical resource for members of the judiciary and other legal professionals to identify and understand how international law is interpreted and applied by U.S. courts at both the federal and state level.

Currently, the i.lex database includes select decisions by U.S. federal and state courts. Summaries of holdings and applications involving international law are under development and will be added to the database as they are completed.

The main content is supplemented by:

• Texts of international treaties
• Domestic statutes

The primary audience for i.lex is judges and their clerks and assistants. However, i.lex is also a helpful tool for lawyers and other advocates who rely on international law in domestic litigation as well as legal scholars whose research, analysis, and teachings contribute to the development of a subsidiary means of identifying basic rules of law.

The i.lex database provides landmark decisions and case law for judges to reference when confronted with cases involving similar issues and provides a starting point from which scholars and others can acquire a basic understanding of the domestic application of international law.

i.lex is not intended to serve as a comprehensive source of case law incorporating international law into the U.S. legal system. Rather, it offers users access to the most important cases involving particular areas of international law such as human rights, refugee and asylum law, diplomatic and consular relations, transportation and communication, trade and transactions, and more.

ASIL has developed i.lex as part of its longstanding mission to promote greater awareness and understanding of international law and as a resource to educate judges and other members of the legal profession about how international law appears in U.S. courts.

ASIL wishes to thank the Open Society Institute for its generous support of i.lex and ASIL's judicial programs.