Introduction
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How to Use These Pages
As with all of our guides, this guide was created to help you perform foreign and international legal research. This guide attempts to help organize portals or gateways already existing on the internet that group together various types of documents.
If you are brand new to performing foreign legal research, we suggest you start with secondary sources, and follow the strategy outlined on our guide Foreign Legal Research: Getting Started.
Constitutions and Constitutional Courts
About This Page
Generally speaking, if a country does not have a court titled "Constitutional Court," then issues of interpretation regarding that country's constitution will be determined by the highest level court. The names of even this highest level court differ from one country to another - in some countries, it is called the High Court, but in others, it may be called the Supreme Court (ex. United States).
Finding Constitutions and Constitutional Court Websites
- Constitution Finder (University of Richmond School of Law)Provides links to many different language versions of constitutions for over 150 countries, at both state and national levels, including amendments.
- Constitutional Courts (from the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe)Provides links to the Constitutional Courts of Europe. Provides information about the language in which materials will appear.
- Constitutions of the Countries of the World
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- Constitutions of the World (from (Universität Bern Institut für Öffentliches Recht)Full-text constitutions of most countries. Also provides useful "background" articles on a country's constitution, as well as history or news about a country's constitution.
- Global Courts: Supreme Court Decisions from Around the World (through Moss District Court, Norway)Provides access to decisions of the highest courts in 129 countries, or provides a way of finding them (sometimes through another gateway such as a Legal Information Institute website.) These courts would be the most likely to decide constitutional questions if the country doesn't have a specifically named Constitutional Court.
- Venice Commission, Council of Europe: Constitutional AssistanceProvides assistance on constitutional policy. See the category of "Documents" on the left hand side of the page.
Country Information, Reports and Statistics
Finding Country Information, Reports, and Statistics
- CIA World FactbookThis website appears to work better with Internet Explorer than with Firefox.
- Country Profiles from Country WatchCountry profiles are provided free of charge, as well as intelligence briefings (detailing political significant political developments.)
- Portals to the World (from Library of Congress)Good starting point for country information on various topics including education, history, language and literature, government, politics, laws, etc.
Finding Govt. Offices, Ministries & Official Online Gazettes
About This Page
Many times the most up to date source of information regarding the laws of a country can be found on the official government websites. Content and currency will vary greatly from one country to another, and even from one governmental office or ministry within a country. Using one of these portal pages linked to the right ensures that you are on the current official government website for each of the country's included on these pages.
Finding Government Gffices, Ministries and Gazettes
- Electronic EmbassyInformation on all of the Foreign Embassies of Washington D.C. Includes am events calendar, press release clearinghouse, international business center, help & resource center, virtual library, etc.
- Foreign Governments (Northwestern University)Provides links to websites of foreign governments.
- Government Gazettes Online (University of Michigan)Provides links to where the official gazettes of many countries can be found, as well as language of publication. What is published in a gazette, and how quickly, varies widely from one country to another.
- Web Sites of National Parliaments (Weidenbaum Center of Washington University in St. Louis)Provides links to national parliaments.
- Lexadin: Governments and MinistriesProvides links to ministries of many, many governments.
Foreign Law Collections (General, Multiple Jurisdictions)
Tools to Finding Foreign Law
- Foreign Primary Law on the Web (from the University of Houston Law Center)Provides links to sources of foreign primary law on the web.
- Guide to Law Online (from Library of Congress)Described as "an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information."
- Internet Legal Resource Guide - World IndexA web directory organized by country. Choose a country and then choose which types of websites you want to search within (commercial, government, education, or organizational sites.)
- Legislation Online (Ofice for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights)Country legislation regarding elections, immigration, judiciary, police, prisons and more. Searchable by topic across jurisdictions, or by topic within individual countries. Created by the OCSE, "[t]he database was designed as a drafting tool for lawmakers, not simply as an archive of domestic or international legislation."
- LLRX: Law and Technology Resources for Legal ProfessionalsLook under the Legal Research tab on the right hand side of the page for links to foreign law as well as US law sources.
- NYU's Guide to Foreign and International Legal DatabasesProvides links to foreign law sources, organized by subject and jurisdiction. Also provides coverage of international subject areas such as international trade, international criminal law, etc.
- Swiss Institute of Comparative LawProvides links to foreign law sources around the world (depth of coverage varies per jurisdiction.)
- World Law Guide (from Lexadin)Guide to legislation and caselaw available on the web for various countries. Also includes information about law firms, law schools and other organizations by country.
- World Legal Information Institute (World LII)One of the top sites on the internet for foreign laws and legal information organized by topic and country.
- Institute for Transnational Law: Foreign Law TranslationsSelected legal materials translated into English from France, Germany, Israel and Austria.
Regional Sources of Law and news from foreign countries
About This Page
In the interest of providing various entry points of access to news and legal resources for various regions around the globe, some of the links provided on this page may be duplicated on the Foreign Collections: Subject-Specific Multiple Jurisdictions tab of this guide.
Regional Search Eengines and Directories
African Countries
- AllAfrica.comNews searchable by region, country, or topic. Legal news, including some coverage of cases pending before international tribunals, can be found by searching under the topic of "legal affairs."
- LawAfrica.comRequest the username and password information from the reference desk.
- MBendiProvides news on various topics including energy, business, mining, international trade, and more.
- SAFLII: South African Legal Information InstituteCan browse laws by country, or review jurisprudence, organized by regional international tribunal.
Asia
In addition to the links below, please see our research guide, People's Republic of China Legal Research.
- IRIN Global: Asiahumanitarian news and analysis from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
CIS and Central Eastern European countires
- Council of Europe Documents by CountryThis site provides detailed reports and proposals for legislative change in European countries. (Venice Commission - Council of Europe).
- Legislation OnlineThis is an excellent database that has full-text legislation for both Western and Eastern European countries in the area of citzenship, elections, human rights,migration, gender and more.(OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights).
latin american countries
- SICE (Foreign Trade Information System)To find information on the laws of various countries within particular subject areas, choose either the "disciplines" tab (for subject areas) or Country tab.
- vLex Global
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middle east and islamic countries
- IRIN Global: Middle Easthumanitarian news and analysis from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
- Legislation OnlineThis is an excellent database that has full-text legislation for both Western and Eastern European countries in the area of citzenship, elections, human rights,migration, gender and more.(OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights).
- MILL (Maastricht Internet Law Library)Focuses on European law and on the domestic law of countries which are a Member of the European Union. Includes legislation, case law and more. (University of Maastricht)
- WWW Virtual LibraryIndex of electronic resources on the Balkans, Baltic States, Caucuses, Central Asia, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, NIS, Russian Federation, and former Soviet Union.
Foreign Law Collections (Subjects A-D)
Arbitration
- Revista Iberoramericana de ArbitrajeFor Latin American countries.
- Kluwer Arbitration
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Access via this link is through CCH Intelliconnect, so that Kluwer Arbitration materials can be accessed remotely by Harvard Law Affiliates. Recommended browser to use is IE. Click on "Practice Tools," then expand "International Securities and Business" to get to Kluwer Arbitration materials.
Banking and Insolvency
- Center for the Study of Central Banks Document CollectionCollection includes: central bank statutes; basic banking laws; political constitutions; unpublished working papers and related materials; conference papers from the Center; published works; and annual reports.
- Bankrupt.comInternational law on bankruptcy and insolvency.
Biotechnology
- Biotechnology (OECD)Publications, documents and statistics.
Citizenship and Nationality
- Citizenship Laws from the US Office of Personnel and ManagementArchival information as of 2001.
Competition
Copyright
- WIPO's CLEA Database: Collection of Laws for Electronic AccessWIPO = World Intellectual Property Organization
- UNESCO's Collection of National Copyright LawsUNESCO = United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Corporate Governance
- Corporate Governance Codes (European Corporate Governance Institute)Includes over 286 codes, principles and recommendations. Not all codes are in English.
Criminal Justice
- Genocide in Domestic Laws and Penal Codes (Prevent Genocide International)Archival information as of 2004.
- International Money Laundering Information Networklegislation and regulations as well as case law, model laws, international norms and standards
Death Penalty
- Worldwide Death Penalty Database"a searchable database which tracks, among other information, the offenses for which the death penalty may be imposed, ratification of relevant international treaties, national and international jurisprudence, methods of execution, death sentence and execution statistics, decisions of international human rights bodies, the availability of legal aid, and recent domestic developments with regard to capital punishment. This extensive data is searchable by country, region, offense, or any combination of the above topics. "
Data Privacy
- International Privacy Law LibraryOver 3600 decisions from over 13 privacy and other data protection authorities!
Drug Laws
- European Legal Database on Drugsfrom the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
- Legal Library on Drug Controlfrom the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Contains legislation fro over 180 States and territories going back to 1948.
Foreign Law Collections (Subjects E-Z)
Environmental Law
- Ecolex (World Conservation Union and UNEP)Provides information on environmental legislation, at both the national and subjurisdictional (provincial) levels.
- FAOLEX (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations)Includes translated laws and regulations on many topics including environment, fisheries, food, forestry, land and soil, livestock, water and wild species and ecosystems.
- ECOLEGIS (Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN - Environment and Natural Resources Foundation)Particularly strong for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Indigenous Peoples
- Databank on Indigenous Legislation (IADB)Laws are classified by country and theme for all countries in Latin America.
Information, Right to
- FreedomInfo.orgProvides summaries regarding freedom of information laws (or lack thereof) for many countries, with many links to the laws online in full text.
Intellectual Property
- National Laws (European Patent Office)National laws relating to the European Patent Convention (citation information only).
Human Rights
- Commonwealth and International Human Rights Case Law Databases (InterRights)"Over 2,000 summaries of significant human rights decisions are available, from both domestic Commonwealth courts, and from tribunals applying international human rights law"
Labor and Employment
- NatLex (International Labor Organization)Includes laws on labor, social security and related human rights
- Normlex (ILO)information on International Labour Standards, and national labour and social security laws
Non-Profit Laws
- Non-Profit Laws Online Library (International Centre for Non-Profit Law)Information on over 172 countries, in various languages.
Refugee Law
- Refworld (UNHCR)Information able to be browsed and/or searched by many parameters including document type (national legislation, treaties etc.), and country.
- Refugeecaselaw.org (from University of Michigan Law School and University of Melbourne Law School)"[C]ore collection contains cases from the highest national courts of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States."
International Law Gateways
Gateways to International Law Sites
- ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International LawCovers following topics: UN, human rights, lists, treaties, international environmental law, international criminal law, and private international law. An excellent starting point for international research.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute (Cornell LII): International LawProvides links to sources international law on the web.
- Foreign Law Research Guide (Boston University Law School Library)Provides links and information to where foreign law primary sources (and in some cases) secondary materials can be found. Not all sources will necessarily be in English.
- Hieros GamosInternational practice-based website. Includes links to sources of US law, sources of the laws of other countries, international and supranational organizations.
- Washburn University School of Law: Foreign and International Law linksAlso includes links to laws by subject and by region.
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