Press Releases: Department of State Announces On-line Publication of 2016 Digest of United States Practice in International Law


Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

July 11, 2017


The Department of State is pleased to announce the release of the 2016 Digest of United States Practice in International Law, covering developments during calendar year 2016. The Digest provides the public with a record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. The official edition of the 2016 Digest is available exclusively on the State Department’s website at: www.state.gov/s/l/c8183.htm. Past Digests covering 1989 through 2015 are also available on the State Department’s website. The Digest is edited by the Office of the Legal Adviser.

The Digest traces its history back to an 1877 treatise by John Cadwalader, which was followed by multi-volume encyclopedias covering selected areas of international law. The Digest later came to be known to many as “Whiteman’s” after Marjorie Whiteman, the editor from 1963-1971. Beginning in 1973, the Office of the Legal Adviser published the Digest on an annual basis, changing its focus to documentation current to the year. Although publication was temporarily suspended after 1988, the office resumed publication in 2000 and has since produced volumes covering 1989 through 2015.