Comparative & International Law Sources

Best Starting Points

American Society of International Law: Useful research tools available on this site include guides to electronic resources for international law and essays on current international law topics. The Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL) includes links to important international law documents.
Goodson Law Library Research Guides: This series contains research guides with information about both print and electronic resources for Canadian Law, the Council of Europe, English Law, the European Union, Foreign & Comparative Law, GATT / WTO, NAFTA, Treaties and the United Nations.
International Legal Research Tutorial: A tutorial designed to teach students research strategies and methodology for researching international legal materials.
Foreign Law Guide: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World (Thomas H. Reynolds & Arturo A. Flores): This database provides information about the legal systems of countries around the world and citations to their legal publications. It is the best first stop when you're researching the law of other countries. Click on "Subscriber Login (IP Authentication)" for access from the Duke network.

Here are sites that give you advice about foreign and international law research, emphasizing the use of electronic resources:
- Finding Foreign Law Online When Going Global: This site includes links to indexes to help you find citations to foreign law, and sources of full texts of foreign and international law.
- GlobaLex: Here are international, comparative and foreign law research guides organized by country and by subject.
- Guide to Law Online: This project of the U.S. Law Library of Congress is an annotated hypertext guide to sources of information worldwide on government and law.
- LLRX International/Foreign Resource Page: Includes research guides and links to international law journals on the web.
- Selective List of Guides to Foreign Legal Research: Provides lists of print and electronic guides for about 50 nations, organized by both regions and countries.
- Intute: Law: This user-friendly site provides access to primary and secondary international legal materials on the Internet, and evaluates the resources.
Many sites have collected links to foreign and international law web sites from around the world; here are a few of the most useful:
- Annotated Guide to Web Sites Around the World (Harvard Law Library): provides links to foreign & international law resources.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute
- D'Angelo Law Library, University of Chicago
- Findlaw
- Foreign Primary Law on the Web: lists sites that offer foreign primary law, either in the original languages or in translation.
- GlobalCourts: Access to the decisions of the supreme courts of more than 100 countries.
- Government Gazettes Online: provides links to gazettes from around the world, with brief descriptions.
- Hieros Gamos: Links to governments, international organizations, law schools, professional associations and law firms around the world.
- Lexadin World Law Guide: provides links to legislation, courts, laws schools, firms and other organizations for about 150 countries.
- Nations of the World from the Law Library of Congress
- NYU Guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases
- World Legal Information Institute: Includes access to case law, legislation, treaties, reports and law journals from around the world.
- U.S. Department of State: Top spot for foreign policy information.

Databases

Arbitration Law Online: Online access to a number of international arbitration law treatises and journals. Password may be obtained at the Law Library Reference Desk.
Beck Online: A German-language database containing cases, statutes and journal articles.
Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) is comprehensive source for international affairs research; its contents include working papers, conference proceedings, case studies, policy briefs, etc.
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals: Indexes articles from more than 450 legal periodicals published worldwide, including journals, essay collections, festschrifts, and congress reports.
International Law in Domestic Courts: Provides English translations of case law from over 65 jurisdictions, covering 2000 to the present. All judgments are also available full-text in their original languages. Also includes scholarly commentary and analysis.
Law Info China: Provides text of cases, statutes, regulations, treaties, legal news, and journals in English and Chinese. The Chinese version also includes model contracts and legal documents.
Manupatra: A full-text English-language database of Indian law materials, including case law and statutes. Password may be obtained at Law Library Reference Desk.
vLex Global: Legislation, case law, and other materials from a variety of jurisdictions, with a focus on countries in Central America, South America, and Europe. Documents presented in their original language, although translations are available for many documents.
Worldtradelaw.net is a very useful database for anyone doing international trade law research. This site includes access to the texts of trade agreements, GATT and WTO panel reports, NAFTA Chapter 20 panel reports (with summaries and analyses), and links to other trade-related sites.

Current Awareness

These resources will help you keep up-to-date with current international and comparative law issues.

ABA Journal Blawg Directory: International Law lists more than 50 blogs dealing with international and comparative law issues.
AIDP Blog: the official blog of the American National Section of L'Association Internationale de Droit Penal (The International Association of Penal Law).
American Society of International Law publications include: ASIL Insights (a series of short papers on international law topics in the news); International Judicial Monitor (IJM) (a bi-monthly publication with the International Judicial Academy, featuring information and resources on international law of particular relevance to the judiciary); International Law in Brief (a newsletter prepared by the editors of International Legal Materials); and ASIL Discussion Paper Series(a collection of research papers on key issues of international law). To receive a free e-mail subscription, register at http://www.asil.org/subscribeelectronic.cfm.
Comparative Law Blog: includes articles from books and journals.
Global Legal Monitor: an electronic publication from the Law Library of Congress which tracks new legal developments from around the world.
International Law: a blog mixing practical and theoretical discussions on important topics of international law.
The International Law News: newsletter of the American Bar Association Section of International Law and Practice; electronic version is available to section members only. A print version is available in the library (Periodicals).
International Law Reporter: provides information about conferences, new scholarship, etc.
IntLawGrrls: an international law blog with a feminist sensibility.
Jurispedia: a wiki "...devoted to worldwide law, legal and political sciences" that was developed at the law faculties of several European and North American universities.
Opinio Juris: a blog dedicated to commentary, debate and scholarship on current developments in international law and politics.

International Organizations

European Union: Start here for basic EU information including goals and policies; official records such as green and white papers; and links to EU institutions such as the European Parliament , Council of Ministers, Court of Justice, and the European Commission. The A to Z Index of EU Websites provides an easy way to find specific pages on the large and complex EUROPA site.
Perkins Library, Public Documents and Maps Department, Duke University:Includes an alphabetical list of links to official IGO sites.
United Nations: The UN homepage includes information about the UN, texts of selected documents and links to UN bodies such as the International Court of Justice. The Official UN Web Locator provides an alphabetical list of all UN organs.
Union of International Associations: Links to the web sites of more than 5,000 IGOs and NGOs arranged alphabetically, by subject and by region.

Law Students

International Law Students Association (ILSA): An umbrella organization for student international law societies at individual law schools; the site includes Jessup Moot Court Competition information.
Legal Study Abroad Headquarters: Information, brochures, and contact information for all ABA-approved study abroad programs and contact information for almost every law school in the world.

Treaties

Multilaterals Project: A project of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy to make available the texts of international multilateral conventions and other instruments. Most date from the second half of this century, but the collection also includes some historical texts.
UN Treaty Collection: Includes the United Nations Treaty Series, a collection of more than 30,000 international agreements registered with the UN Secretariat and Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General, which provides information on the status of about 500 multilateral instruments deposited with the Secretary-General.

Last updated 01/2009 KT