The desirability of applying uniform standards to international documentation is well recognized. The need to “identify and consider adoption of established, relevant standards aimed at improving retrieval” was expressed by Helen Seymour at the 1972 International Symposium on the Documentation of the United Nations and Other Intergovernmental Organizations. Among the final recommendations emanating from that meeting were Number 31, which calls for application of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) system, and Number 33, which calls for adoption of the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD). In line with this thinking, I would like to suggest the development and adoption of a standard for the bibliographic citation of international documents.

Since all users of law libraries do so in a search for authority, the basic categories of materials are found in all law libraries. The authority may be binding or persuasive. The nature of our legal system is reflected by South African legal publications. Primary and secondary sources of the law constitute the two main groups of South African legal publications.