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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bahamas (KGL) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Official Gazette of the Bahamas (not available online) |
| |||
| Bahrain (KMF) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS |
|
WorldLaw Guide |
Official Gazette of Bahrain (not available online) |
| ||
| Bangladesh (KNG) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Chancery Law Chronicles (Bangladesh Case Law Database, in English) |
||||
| Barbados (KGL) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Official Gazette of Barbados (not available online) |
| |||
| Belarus (KLF) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
National Register of the Legal Acts of the Republic of Belarus; Веснiк Канстытуцыйнага Суда Рэспублiкi Беларусь / Vestnik Konstitutsionnogo Suda (Gazette published by the Constitutional Court of Belarus) (in Belorusian, Russian, and English) |
National Legal Information Center (Russian) |
|||
| Belgium (KJK) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Westlaw (Patents & Trademarks) |
||||
| Belize (KGA) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
|
Latin Laws -- Bibilioteca Legal Latinoamericana |
|||
| Benin (KQJ) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Journal officiel de la republique populalaire du Benin (not available online) |
| |||
| Bermuda (KDZ) (British Overseas Territory) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS |
Northwestern LLRX (the Caribbean) GlobaLex LOC |
WorldLaw Guide |
The Bermuda Official Gazette (not available online) |
LexMundi (A Lawyer's Guide to bermuda, pdf) |
||
| Bhutan (KNH) |
|
CS | | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Bhutan Government Gazette (not available online) |
| |||
| Bolivia (KHC) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Gaceta judicial de Bolivia |
Latin Laws -- Biblioteca Legal Latinoamericana |
|||
| Bosnia and Herzegovina (KKZ) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (not available online) |
OHR (Laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, English) Zakoni (Legislation Database, Bosnian) Sud (Courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian) |
|||
| Botswana (KQK) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Botswana Government Gazette (not available online) |
| |||
| Brazil (KHD) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Brazil Institute (portal to Brazil, English)Lexis (International Arbitration) Westlaw (Regulations) Latin Laws -- Biblioteca Legal Latinoamericana Portal LexML Brazil LC Translation of National Legislation into English |
||||
| Brunei Darussalam (KNK) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
The Brunei Government Gazette |
Lexis (Case Law & International Arbitration) |
|||
| Bulgaria (KJM) |
|
CS | FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Bulgarian Institute for Legal Development Bulgarian and English |
||||
| Burkina Faso (KQT) |
|
| FLG | HLS |
WorldLII  Droit Afrique |
WorldLaw Guide | | |||
| Burundi (KQV) |
|
| FLG | HLS | WorldLaw Guide |
Bulletin Officiel du Burundi (not available online) |
|
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.
























