Introduction
Many times when doing foreign legal research, you will run across an abbreviation you've never seen before. To help you in deciphering these acronyms, you should refer to the abbreviation materials noted to the right or below. Many countries may have their own citation guides.
Some are much easier to use in print format than in online format, but in case you are doing research without recourse to our law library's collection, links to the online formats have been provided, where applicable.
Country Specific Abbreviation Guides
- Abkürzungsverzeichnis der Rechtssprache (commonly referred to as Kirchner), Law School Reference GER 010 KIR35 2008Abbreviation guide for German legal materials.
Print and Online Resources
- Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
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Available online and in print, but the print version is much easier to use. - Black's Law Dictionary
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The above link is to the 9th edition in its online format, which includes an "extensive appendix on legal abbreviations." The law library's reference desk has a hard copy of the 9th edition. - Cardiff Index to Legal AbbreviationsAvailable online only. Includes abbreviations from over 295 jurisdictions.
- International Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations DictionaryPrint only. Includes thousands of terms local to specific countries. Majority of terms included are of current use, with some historically used terms. Does not include U.S., British, or Canadian terms unless they have international significance.
- International Citation Manual from the Washington University Global Studies Law ReviewNot every country is represented in Table 2 of the Bluebook, so this guide may prove helpful for formatting citations to documents from many foreign countries. Where it says "Country Information" click on the link to "list of countries."
- The Bluebook: A Uniform System of CitationAbbreviations for foreign countries' materials are found in Table 2. The above link is to subscribe to online access. The law library has many copies available at Law Reserve, Reference, and at the Reference Desk, via call number KF 245 .B58 2005. Now in its 19th edition.
- World Dictionary of Legal AbbreviationsPrint only, supplemented through 2013.
