The United Nations Treaty Series Project - By PETER H. ROHN UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

[...]

1963. The United Nations Treaty Series Project (UNTS Project) started as a vague hunch in a class discussion. The question was how to prove the growth of international institutions in conventional international law. The answer was simple in theory but difficult in practice. We should survey the texts of treaties. If references to international institutions increased, the point was proved; otherwise, disproved. The more treaties we surveyed the more reliable the results would be. There was no money to pay for anything, no special equipment, no extra work space, nothing but the idea and the library and a group of students volunteering to do the job as part of their classwork in international law.

Two months later, some fifty students had combed through all volumes of the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS). There were 426 volumes in the autumn of 1963. A few key characteristics were extracted from every one of the 6,734 treaties published up to that time in the UNTS. The students coded these key characteristics on dittoed code sheets. By Christmas I had on my desk a pile of several hundred code sheets filled out by 50 students in as many handwritings. I had no way of guessing the level of accuracy and completeness, let alone usefulness, of the whole exercise.

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Also in 1965, the UNTS Project became part of the regular graduate instruction in international law at the University of Washington. A system was developed (and is still in force) whereby seminar students must combine traditional and quantitative methods in international law. Standard procedures include the handling of UNTS Project printouts, code manuals, and raw data cards. Students also use auxiliary equipment in the computer center as well as desk calculators and other simple devices for minor individual tasks. Measurements and computer-oriented activities must be related to traditional research wherever possible.

1966. This year saw a gradual shift of emphasis from investment to production. Data enlargement continued by adding identifications of international organizations referred to in treaty texts and identity of registering party, as well as some refinements in the 1965 topic code. The second annual updating was completed in June by adding to the data bank UNTS Volumes 454-503 published between June 1965 and June 1966. Data enlargement and updating having become a routine function of an on-going operation, the main thrust of the work in 1966 concerned new programs for the machine-handling of UNTS data, and analytic work in selected aspects of the law of treaties. Completed were the study of the Canadian UNTS Gap," a special study on the role of military matters in the world's treaty pattern,[12] a general statement of theoretical under- pinnings for the UNTS Project, [13] a paper on information retrieval aspects of the UNTS Project, [14] and an outline of a more general scheme of computerizing international law. [15]

Two professional meetings on the use of computers in international relations research included the UNTS Project: (1) the special working group on electronic data processing set up by the American Society of International Law; [16] and (2) the Institute on "Computers and the Policy-Making Community" sponsored by the Endowment for International Peace and the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission. [17]

Also in 1966, two graduate student papers on UNTS Project material attracted professional interest: (1) one paper was selected for presentation to a West Coast regional conference [l8] and was then revised and published elsewhere; [19] and (2) the other paper was chosen for presentation to the University of Washington Student International Law Society and then also published elsewhere. [20] By the end of 1966, a total of 15 students found their work referred to by name in UNTS Project publications,[21] and 8 of them more than once. [22]

Finally, the UNTS Project was given a broader institutional base at the University of Washington through the appointment of a joint advisory committee by the Dean of the Law School and the Chairman of the Political Science Department.

1967. Three new sets of data were added in 1967: (1) date of effect, (2) date of registration and (3) official languages. New work began on multilateral treaties and on treaty history subsequent to registration, e.g. prolongations, terminations, accessions, withdrawals, amendments, and reservations. The annual updating proceeded concurrently with the addition of new data. UNTS Volumes 504-550 were coded. This brought our data bank up to date, covering all UNTS volumes published through December 1967.

The computer center started developing for the UNTS Project a teletype capacity for instant retrieval between the UNTS Project office and the computer center. This is being done by means of the B-5500 XTAB retrieval program adapted by the computer center of the University of Washington especially to the needs of the UNTS Project. It will be used in addition to the existing capacity of the IBM-7094 for both retrieval and computation. The B-5500 program plus teletype response will cut the waste and the waiting time involved in using the IBM-7094 (or later the IBM-360) for simple retrieval jobs. [23][Grateful recognition for imaginative help far beyond routine cooperation is made to the two co-directors of the computer center at the University of Washington, David Dekker and Carl Young, and to the following staff members in particular: Charlene Haug, Elton Hay, Larry Menninga and Monique Rona.] Hunches can then be tested in minutes rather than days. Retrieval also has become a somewhat larger part of UNTS Project operations as more faculty and graduate students use our data bank and as more requests for special data printouts are received from outside. [24] [...]

Carl Garland YOUNG, age 82, of Seattle, passed away on October 3, 2008. He was born in Portland, Oregon on March 26, 1926. Carl is survived by his wife, Verona, sons, Roger Young, Eric Young, daughter, Garland Young, granddaughter, Monika Young and brother, Gordon Young. Mr. Young is also survived by several nieces, nephews, relatives and a host of friends. At Carl's request, no services will be held. If desired, memorials may be made in Carl's memory to the donor's favorite charity. Arrangements by Evergreen-Washelli.