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- Foreign Law Research Guide
- Country & Regional Guides
Foreign Law Research Guide: Country & Regional Guides
Guide to resources in foreign law.
Getting Started
Use the following resources to learn about a country's legal system and to determine what types of legal materials are available.
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Foreign Law Guide (FLG)FLG is an essential database offering relevant information on sources of foreign law, including complete bibliographic citations to legislation, the existence of English translations and selected references to secondary sources in one virtual destination.
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GlobaLexA fantastic source for research guides on any number of foreign, international and comparative law sources. The information and articles published by GlobaLex represent both research and teaching resources used by legal academics, practitioners and other specialists around the world who are active either in foreign, international, and comparative law research or those focusing on their own domestic law.
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Primo CatalogLocate print or e-book research guides or codes in the Boley Library's catalog. Use sources identified in the Foreign Law Guide, or enter keyword searches using terms such as legal, law, code, research, guide, and [country]. Examples of titles:
Japanese Law KNX68 .O32 2009
Mexican Law for the American Lawyer KGF327 .V37 2009
Web Portals or Metasites of Country Legal Materials
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Library of Congress, Guide to Law Online: NationsA website listing most of the nations of the world, containing links to primary laws, cases, and research guides.
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WorldLIIThe World Legal Information Institutes are free, independent and provide non-profit access to worldwide laws for most of jurisdictions. WorldLII also contains regional LIIs that are particularly good: UK materials (BAILII) and Asian-Pacific jurisdictions (AsianLII and PacLII).
Search by selecting All Countries on the left-side navigation tool, then clicking on the individual country. -
Boston University Law Library Guides "Foreign Law"Extensive list of countries, a well-designed website, links to government sites, WorldLII and other free sources.
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Oxford University LibGuides: Resources for JurisdictionsThis guide is particularly useful for countries in the UK as well as for major European countries.
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Yale Law School: Country Research GuideLinks to major library guides. Warning: subscription databases are linked to Yale's servers, not Boley's.
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World Law Guide by Lexadin (not current)While this collection of laws in over 10 years old, some links may still be viable. Easy to use and comprehensive.
Regional Guides
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Globalex Comparative Law groupingGuides to groupings by regional jurisdictions ("African Law") as well as by subject (Comparative Criminal Procedure).
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University of Melbourne Library Guides by SubjectStrong coverage of Asian and Oceana countries. Use the pull down Subject menu and select Law, then click on a guide, which are arranged in alphabetical order.
Primary Law Collections
The guides and links below include collections of laws and cases as well as guides to finding them. A researcher should also consult an individual jurisdiction in the Foreign Law Guide or in Globalex, to find information about the location of primary sources for that country.
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GUIDE: Sources of Law: Oxford UniversityLinks to an extensive collection of Guides to specialized sources by type of primary law.
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Gazette Collection (Law Library of Congress)Alphabetical guide to 56 nations with online gazettes.
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Foreign Official Gazette DatabaseLast updated in 2007. Library locations of over 650 Gazettes.
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CASES: JuricafeJudicial decisions from 45 french speaking countries.
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CASES: Codices - Council of EuropeContains over 10,000 cases from 90 constitutional courts. Summaries are in French and English; full text court decisions in 43 languages.
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CASES: China Guiding Cases ProjectIncludes full text of opinions and selected translated cases with analysis.
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CASES: Univ of Texas Foreign Law TranslationsSelected primary law of Austria, France, Germany and Israel
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CONSTITUTIONS: HeinOnline World Constitutions IllustratedIncludes translations of mostly current and historical constitutions, e-books, and full-text articles on each country.
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CONSTITUTIONS: ConstituteA developing free site that uses Google tools to compare constitutions. Not all constitutions are included or translated into English. Source material is from HeinOnline’s World Constitutions Illustrated.