The concept of liability on the part of the government as a consequence of its legal activities in the legislative as well as in the judicial field is one of the major achievements of French legal doctrine and jurisprudence. Although conditions for such liability still present some difficulties, the fact that the government now accepts liability as a principle for any harm created by the laws or by court decisions has uncovered a new area of legal development.

All professions are dependent to some degree on their corpus of literature. For several reasons this dependency is especially acute for the legal profession. First, a large part of legal literature is “authoritative” in a sense different from the literature of, say, medicine or history. Legal authority is binding, backed by the coercive apparatus of the state. One is compelled to be familiar with legal authority, for, in the ancient phrase, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Second, the very principles of Western legal systems require that governmental bodies operate according to law. Courts must resolve their cases in accordance with the law. This jurisprudential theorem imposes upon lawyers and judges the duty of identifying and examining all relevant legal authority. Failure to exercise due care in carrying out this duty may render the attorney liable to a suit for malpractice.

International administrative tribunals have gained in popularity during the past several years. These tribunals have been established as the need arose to adjudicate disputes between international organizations and their staff members. Since the disputes are internal in nature, the tribunals filled the lacunae between local or national jurisdiction on the one hand, and a global international forum on the other.

International intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) play a significant role in contemporary life, and in the course of their functioning they produce a very large number of publications and documents. In a study published in 1979, Documentation of the United Nations System, the author estimates that of the United Nations organizations alone, counting all language versions, the yearly output is approximately 180,000 pieces, with 7,500 items, or five percent of the total, being publications properly so called. Although we have no real statistics on the use of international documents there is general agreement among specialists in this field that the vast bulk of IGO documentation goes unread. Many reports and studies are intended, of course, for a limited audience such as a single meeting's participants, but also included in the mass of IGO materials are items of potential value to researchers in most disciplines, including law. In the present column I hope, without overlapping other sections of IJLI, to provide news about new international information systems and projects, new publications or documents of the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), Unesco, and the World Bank, and information about international bodies outside the UN system. Fortunately, I am in a good position to see new IGO publications because they arrive daily at the Library of Congress from agencies scattered across the continents; I also obtain news from regular contacts in various organizations, particularly from individuals in Washington-based international agencies. Although my plan is to discuss specific organizations and documents, I shall also dwell a bit on the abstract subject of international documentation.

Among the more interesting international publications that have come to the writer's attention recently is a five-volume set of Staff Regulations and Staff Rules of Selected International Organizations compiled by the World Bank Administrative Tribunal in Washington, D.C. As explained in the preface by the editor and Executive Secretary of the Tribunal, C.F. Amerasinghe, a need was felt to have ready access to a collection of staff regulations and rules in order to be able to compare administrative problems and situations in different international organizations. Thus, an effort was made to secure pertinent documents from both universal and regional intergovernmental agencies. The collection was made particularly for the judges of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, but with the hope that the material would also be useful to others interested in international administrative law. The first four volumes were issued in January 1983; additional material subsequently became available and a fifth volume was issued in May 1983. The first volume (353 p.) includes reproductions of the regulations and rules of the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Volume II (397 p.) covers Unesco, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Council of Europe, and the African Development Bank. Volume III (276 p.) covers the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (which became the International Maritime Organization in 1982), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the Organization of American States. Volume IV (313 p.) covers the European Communities and the International Labor Organization. Volume V (369 p.) is devoted exclusively to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In every instance the rules are as up to date as could be obtained, and the introductory remarks in each volume provide brief details on the currency of the materials as well as information on major variations in the regulations of the organizations included. Because IGO staff regulations are difficult to obtain, this collection is a valuable work. The volumes are available free of charge as long as the supply lasts and may be ordered from the Office of the Executive Secretary, World Bank Administrative Tribunal, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433.