Country-by-Country Guide to Foreign Law Research
This country-by-country guide will help get you started on your foreign law research by connecting you to the best research guides and databases for each country.
Notes about the guide:
- Links under Country go to the CIA's World Factbook.
- The LC Call Number indicates where the print materials for that country are located on the Lower East Side (LES) of the Yale Law Library.
- The Regional Map icons go to a map of the larger geographical region.
- LC Country Studies provide social, political, legal and economic information
- The FLG is the outstanding and comprehensive Foreign Law Guide which will give you the historical, political and legal framework for each country plus the past and current sources of legal information, including where to find legislation, codes and case decisions, print and online. This is a Yale subscription database.
- HLS refers to Harvard Law School's list of online guides to doing legal research in foreign jurisdictions.
- WorldLII is a directory of legal information available on the Internet.
- The Online Guides column includes the most substantial guide available from a library or research site.
- The World Law Guide is a good resource for current legislation.
- The Gazettes column features a link to the country's national gazette.
- Finally, the Other Databases column lists other valuable subscription or open-access databases or websites for that country.
|
Country LC Call Number Range |
Regional Map | LC Country Study | FLG | HLS | Legal Information Institute (WorldLii) | Online Guides | WorldLaw Guide | Gazettes | Other Databases | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Kitts and Nevis (KGW) |
|
| FLG | | WorldLaw Guide |
Official Gazette of Saint Kitts and Nevis (not available online) |
| |||
| Saint Lucia (KGW) |
|
| FLG | | WorldLaw Guide | | ||||
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (KGW) |
|
| FLG | | WorldLaw Guide |
Laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (not available online); some laws and regulations available at I.F.S.A. |
| |||
| Samoa (KWW) |
|
| | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
The Samoa Gazette (not available online) |
| |||
| San Marino (KKS) |
|
| | | |
Bollettino ufficiale della Republica di San Marino (not available online) |
| |||
| Sao Tome and Principe (KTF) |
|
| | | | | ||||
| Saudi Arabia (KMT) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Umm al-Qura (not available online) |
| |||
| Senegal (KTG) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide | | ||||
| Serbia (KKZ) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide | | ||||
| Seychelles (KTH) |
|
CS | FLG | | WorldLaw Guide |
Official Gazette (not available online) |
| |||
| Sierra Leone (KTJ) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Sierra Leone Gazette (not available online); some laws can be found here |
Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Report |
|||
| Singapore (KPP) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS |
Gov't GlobaLex LOCSupreme Court of Singapore(Open access for 3 months)The Subordinate Courts of Singapore(District & Magistrate Courts Judgments and Family & Juvenile Court Judgments) |
WorldLaw Guide |
Lexis (Case Law, International Arbitration) Westlaw (Law Reviews, Bar Journals & Legal Periodicals) Justis (Law Reports) LawNet (Law Reports, Judgments, Decisions, Bills) Access via SCC Online Singapore Statutes Online (Official Singapore Government website for online publication of legislation provided and maintained by the Attorney-General's Chamber) |
|||
| Slovak Republic (Slovakia) (KJP) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Slovakia Case Law Database (Slovak)
|
||||
| Slovenia (KKZ) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Slovenia Case Law Database (Slovenian) Slovenian Supreme Court (Slovenian)
|
||||
| Solomon Islands (KWL) |
|
| | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Solomon Islands Gazette (not available online) |
| |||
| Somalia (KTK) |
|
CS | FLG | | |
The Somalia Gazette (not available online) |
| |||
| South Africa (KTL) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS |
Northwestern LLRX GlobaLex GlobaLex(disability) LOC |
WorldLaw Guide |
Government gazette (Staatskoerant/ Republic of South Africa) is not fully available available online; National, Provincial and Regulation Gazettes as well as some legal notices and tenders are available at GreenGazette and at GICS some legislation is available at ActsOnline. |
Lexis (Case Law, International Arbitration, Legislation & Regulations) Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) (can be downloaded as pdf) |
||
| South Korea (KPA) |
|
CS | | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Gwanbo (in Korean) |
| |||
| Spain (KKT) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
vLex (laws, cases, scholarship - Yale network only) La Constitution Espanola de 1812 (constitution) La Biblioteca Digital de Derecho (historical books and manuscripts) European Case Law Database (Spanish) Lexis (Treatises, International Arbitration) Westlaw (Environmental, Health & Safety Regulations, Patents & Trademarks) Consejo General del Poder Judicial (Spanish court cases, in Spanish) |
||||
| Sri Lanka (KPS) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka |
LawNet -- Sri Lanka's Legal Information network
|
|||
| Sudan (KTQ) |
|
CS | | | WorldLaw Guide |
Sudan Gazette (not available online) |
| |||
| Suriname (KHS) |
|
| FLG | | WorldLaw Guide |
Staatsblad van de Republiek Suriname |
Latin Laws -- Biblioteca Legal Latinoamericana |
|||
| Swaziland (KTR) |
|
| | | WorldLaw Guide |
Swaziland Government Gazette (not available online) |
| |||
| Sweden (KKV) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
No gazette published, see 'Rixlex' in 'Other databases' |
Rixlex (official government documents) Westlaw (International Arbitration, Patents &Trademarks) |
|||
| Switzerland (KKW) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
The Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation (comprehensive legal information, partly in English) Schweizerisches Bundesgerich (all decisions of the Supreme Court of Switzerland, in German, French, and Italian) The Swiss Portal of the Federal Government and the Cantons (provides access to official websites of the Swiss cantons) Westlaw (International Aribtration, Patents & Trademarks) |
||||
| Syrian Arab Emirates (Syria) (KMU) |
|
CS | FLG | | WorldLaw Guide |
No gazette available |
|
Stephanie Davidson created the original version of this guide for a clinic several years ago. It has since been modified to suit general foreign law research. Thanks to Zhang Yue, YC '10 and Anna Ershova, YC '11 for their assistance in updating this guide.
































