The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. Following a hiatus from 1989-1999, publication of the Digest recommenced with calendar year 2000. Since then, annual volumes for 2000 through 2010, a two-volume set covering 1991-1999, and a volume for 1989-1990 have been published on-line and in hard copy. A cumulative index for the years 1989-2008 was released in the spring of 2010. A brief history of the Digest and explanation of the current format of the book is provided in the Introduction to the Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2000. A supplemental note, dated October 1, 2010, provides updated information on Internet citations included in the Digest. Beginning with the 2011 Digest, the official version of the Digest is published exclusively on-line.

The Digest volumes covering 1989-2010 were published under a co-publishing agreement between the International Law Institute and Oxford University Press. Consistent with that agreement, those volumes are available on this website in PDF format. Click on the listings below for the appropriate volume. For each year’s volume, the full text of key documents that are excerpted therein (and that are not readily available elsewhere) is available under the listing for the chapter in which the document is discussed. Hard copies of the annual volumes of the Digest for the years 2004-2010, the cumulative index for 1989-2006, and the updated cumulative index for 1989-2008 can be purchased from Oxford University Press Order Department, 2001 Evans Road, Cary, NC 27513, 1-800-445-9714 (phone), 1-919-677-1303 (fax), custserv@oup-usa.org. Volumes covering 1989 through 2003 can be purchased from the International Law Institute, The Foundry Building, 1055 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, Washington, DC 20007; Publications Department, (202) 247-6006 (phone), (202) 247-6010 (fax).

U.S. government works are in the public domain per section 105 of the Copyright Act.

Persons or organizations wishing to comment on this website or the Digest in general are invited to do so by sending an email to ldigest@state.gov.

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The Lessons of 1989: Freedom and Our Future