Contents:1. Introductory notes
2. Short Introduction: What is RAVE ?
3. Background
4. User's Instructions
1. Introductory notes
Please note that most of the classification has been done by freelance collaborators and has not been checked throughout by staff of the chair. Therefore, we would be most grateful to be notified of erroneous listings. E-mail to RAVE.
The table of contents for RAVE - 1. Public International Law basically corresponds to the famous bibliography Public International Law (PIL). PIL was developed by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law and is far more comprehensive than RAVE. Being part of the "Virtual Institute", PIL is now accessible through the internet.
2. Short Introduction: What is RAVE?
RAVE (acronym of "Rechtsprechung und Aufsätze aus dem Völker- und Europarecht” = Decisions and articles in public international law and European law) is a database for researching articles and decisions in public international law and European law.
It is designed to offer users information about current legal literature in these fields of law via the World Wide Web (WWW). It is based on German and a number of non-German periodicals which contain publications on public international law and European law.
This database only contains citations to articles and decisions, not their entire text. However, if such text has been published in the WWW, RAVE provides you with a link to it. Presently, Documents of the United Nations (e.g. resolutions of the Security Council) as well as numerous judicial decisions are available (such as the ICJ, ECJ, U.S. Supreme Court, German Federal Constitutional Court). An overview of the sources incorporated into RAVE is given by RAVE WWW resources.
To aid your research, the fields of public international law and European law have been systematically broken down into subjects. You will find this list in the systematic index.
3. Background
This research tool is intended to avoid the time gap between the publication of an article or a decision and its citation in handbooks or printed bibliographies by providing users a speedy access to information on current publications. Originally created for internal university use only, this database has been adapted for the WWW upon the suggestion of Professor Dr. Juliane Kokott, LL.M. (Am. Un.), S.J.D. (Harvard).
The database covers articles and decisions in public international law and European law which have been published in the periodicals cited in the list of periodicals. As you will notice, it is almost complete as far as German legal periodicals are concerned, and contains a number of widely disseminated non-German periodicals.
One of RAVE's main objectives is to provide up to date information about decisions and articles published. Beginning in 1997, the information is updated every three months. The backlog of information from the years 1995 and 1996 is to disappear within the next months.
Other than up to date information about publications, the incorporation of resources published in the WWW is one of RAVE's special features. As more and more information is placed on the Net, users can get hold of up to date information more easily . RAVE does NOT list these ressources systematically, but incorporates them directly into the specific information it provides. Thus, users are spared searching their libraries for printed versions of the articles and decisions listed. RAVE contains "direct” links to relevant decisions and documents as well as links to primary sources of law (e.g. the German Constitution in German, English and French or the European Convention on Human Rights in English and French) to make them accessible to users from all over the world. Partly, these links are sometimes contained in the title of a page (example) and they have sometimes been directly incorporated into the information on a publication (example).
In order to allow a large number of users access to this database, RAVE permits research in three languages: German, English and French. All pages, lists, indices and offers for downloading files (with the exception, of course, of the article titles) are available in these languages.
4. User's Instructions
You may search for articles and decisions in your specific field of interest by using one of the following methods:
a) Search by Hypertext Links
The easiest way to find legal literature in the fields of public international law or European law is to use the hypertext links on RAVE's homepage. You start by choosing either public international law or European law and then narrow down the subjects until you find the literature you are looking for.
In order to get an idea of the systematic structure, we recommend that you download the systematic (and alphabetical) indices beforehand (see Download Offers).
b) Search by Using the Systematic Index
For users who are not yet familiar with RAVE, using the systematic index allows to get an overview of the special fields covered. You can start your research by taking the highlighted references as a starting point.
c) Search by Using the Alphabetical Index
The third way of researching publications in a specific field is by using the alphabetic index. It contains all catchwords, even if their are grouped in the systematic index.
Example: 1.9.3 Territorial Waters, Contiguous Zone, Straits
This means that the systematic index lists you will find the term Territorial Waters under the letter "T", the term Contiguous Zone under the letter "C", and the word Straits under the letter "S". All these links will lead to the main literature list. Please note that you can only use the words contained in the index.
d) Free Search
Apart from theses search options, RAVE has introduced a free search in January 1997. It allows you to search by authors' names or by terms freely chosen by the user. The result of such a search may, however, be less helpful since the program cannot make a distinction between information listed and page titles.
Every search will result in a "list of citations” (Literaturliste) relevant to the term used for your search. It indicates the author, title and subtitle and the citation to a legal periodical. The abbreviations used for authors (e.g. ECJ) can be found in the list of abbreviations; the abbreviations used for periodicals are contained in the list of periodicals.
Each method of research will finally lead you to a list of literature ("Literaturliste") in your specific field of interest. The abbreviations used are explainedin the list of abbreviations.
