Researching Foreign and Comparative Law
Introduction
- Foreign law is the domestic law of a country other than the United States. Comparative law is the study of domestic law between or among individual countries. (Treaties and other international agreements fall under International Law).
- Know what type of legal system(s) pertains to your country (civil law, common law, mixed jurisdiction, etc.). See, World Legal Systems or Legal Traditions of the World: Sustainable Diversity in Law (Morris Call Number: K559 .G545X 2014 - there are also 2000, 2004, 2007, and 2010 editions of this book available). You may also consult GlobaLex to familiarize yourself with the legal system of a jurisdiction.
- Caveats:
- There may not be published sources of law for a particular country.
- If there are, the sources may not be in English.
- If sources are available in English, Yale Law Library may not have them (but we probably do!).
- If they exist in our collection, they may not be current, or the translations may not be accurate.
- Consult the Law Library's Database page, or search Quicksearch Databases for additional resources. Be sure to be logged into the VPN if off campus.
- Several databases require specialized login credentials; please inquire at reference.law@yale.edu when you need login information.
- People who can help you:
- Contact Foreign/International Law Librarians
- Lucie Olejnikova, Evelyn Ma, and Steven Mitchell
- Contact Reference Librarians
- Contact Foreign/International Law Librarians
- Law Library of Congress classification system – help you know how our collection is organized. All Law is classified under the letter “K." For example,
- United States law - KF
- European Union law - KJE
- Kenyan law - KSK
- When searching Morris or QuickSearch, utilize the assigned subject headings (SH) ro locate additional related materials: browse subject headings starting with an item or search subject headings.
- Subject headings can be country or region-specific, topic, subject or area of law specific, or a combination:
- Sri Lanka (country-specific) | International Law Africa (region and area of law specific) | European Union (region-specific) | Great Britain Administrative Law (country and subject-specific) | United Nations Charter (subject-specific)
- Because alike items are shelved together, shelf-browsing can still be a useful technique.
- Subject headings can be country or region-specific, topic, subject or area of law specific, or a combination:
- Inter-library Loan & Borrow Direct, EliExpress – when we don’t have what you need!
- WorldCat - to find books in non-Yale libraries around the world
Primary Sources
- Constitutions of the Countries of the World - English and vernacular
- Print: Morris Call Number: K3157 .A2 B58 – F/I Ref (current), UES (old)
- Electronic:
- World Constitutions Illustrated on HeinOnline
- Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law (scholarly articles with a global overview of constitutional law; integrated with Oxford Constitutions of the World)
- Oxford Constitutions of the World (fully translated English-language versions of all the world’s constitutions (national and sub-national) with commentaries and supplementing materials)
- Constitute (open access project)
- Laws / Statutes
- Country-by-Country Research Guide – portal to research guides and major databases for every country; these research guides vary from explanatory legal system guides to lists of legal resource links.
- Foreign Law Guide – subscription database covering approximately 190 jurisdictions; information on sources of foreign law (statutes, codes, gazettes, judicial decisions), citations to legislation, existence of English translations.
- GlobaLex – an open-access electronic publication dedicated to international, foreign, and comparative law research. Articles are written by a body of global experts. Include information on legal systems, and sources of law (codes, statutes, gazettes, judicial decisions), with links to sources and bodies.
- LLRX – in-depth legal research guides with links to legislation and legislative bodies.
- Nations of the World – Law Library of Congress’ lists of web links to legislation and legislative bodies.
- Law Library of Congress Guide Translation of National Legislation into English (2012) - a guide to finding translations of laws of Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, and Russia International Organizations International Courts.
- WorldLII – open access portal with links to electronic sources of legislation and legislative bodies.
- Country Gazettes
- Print (Yale has some, otherwise Interlibrary Loan)
- Government Gazettes Online – online collection of government gazettes with descriptions, coverage, and links.
- Catalogs – Quicksearch, Orbis, Worldcat, Harvard Hollis, Library of Congress Guide to Law Online
- Title search (codigo civil)
- Keyword search (code and spain) or (codigo and spain)
- Subject Heading search (civil law – spain)
- Practical Guides such as the series “Doing Business in…”
- Yearbooks for each country - landmark cases and statutes: Keyword search in Morris: ex) yearbook and Spain.
- Country-by-Country Research Guide – portal to research guides and major databases for every country; these research guides vary from explanatory legal system guides to lists of legal resource links.
- Case Law
- Dockets/Court Filings: See this guide
Secondary Sources
- Secondary resources (research guides, treatises, books, law review articles) can lead you to primary sources (constitution, statutes, cases); it is always good to begin your research using secondary resources, such as those listed below
- Research Guides
- Yale's Country-by-Country Research Guide – portal to research guides and major databases for every country; these research guides vary from explanatory legal system guides to lists of legal resource links.
- Foreign Law Guide – an in-depth research guide for every country, with titles of print and links to electronic primary and secondary sources
- GlobaLex – in-depth legal research articles on foreign, international, and comparative law subjects
- LLRX – in-depth legal research guides
- WorldLII – lists of links to electronic resources
- HLS – Harvard's lists of links to foreign law online sources
- Guide to Law Online – Library of Congress' lists of web links
- International Legal Research in a Global Community (Morris Call Number: KZ1234 .K84 2018)
- International Legal Research in a Nutshell, 2nd Ed. (Morris Call Number: KZ1234 .H64 2017 - L1, Ref, F/I Ref)
- Legal Research in a Nutshell, 10th Ed. – F/I chapters (Morris Call Number: KF240 .C54 – L1, Ref, F/I Ref)
- Yale's Country-by-Country Research Guide – portal to research guides and major databases for every country; these research guides vary from explanatory legal system guides to lists of legal resource links.
- Encyclopedias and other reference materials give an overview of jurisdiction and/or subject matter often annotated and with a bibliography -- Begin with Keyword searches in Quicksearch and Orbis (e.g. encyclopedia and environment*)
- Multinational Sources Compared: A Subject and Jurisdiction Index, Alena L. Wolotira & Sherry L. Leysen (Morris Call Number: K85 .W65 2017 - Foreign and International Reference; also on HeinOnline)
- International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law (Morris Call Number: K530 .I57 – F/I Office)
- Encyclopedia of World Constitutions (Morris Call Number: K3157.E5 E53 – Ref)
- Legal Systems of the World (Morris Call Number: K48 L44 – Ref)
- Oxford Companion to Law (Morris Call Number: K48 .W34 – Ref, F/I Ref, UES)
- Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law (Morris Call Number: K48 .E42 2006 and 2012 – F/I Ref, Ref, UES) (print)
- Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law (Online Book 2023)
- Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia (Morris Call Number: K583 .R313 M63 – F/I Ref)
- Germain’s Transnational Law Guide (Morris Call Number: K85 .G47 – Ref, F/I Ref, UES)
- Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest (1993-2006) (Morris Call Number: K526.2 .M37 – Ref)
- Szladits – A Bibliography on Foreign and Comparative Law: Books and Articles in English (1955 – 1998) (Morris Call Number: K38 .B53 – L1, F/I Office)
- Scholarly articles (all are Yale subscriptions except open-access SSRN and Google Scholar)
- Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) – index of foreign law review articles with links to Yale full-text resources
- EBSCO Legal Source – some full-text
- HeinOnline Kluwer Law International Journal Library (selective collection)
- Kluwer Online Subject Heading
- Hein Online – great when you know the citation
- English Reports (1220 - 1865)
- European Center for Minority Issues
- Foreign and International Law Resources
- Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP)
- International and foreign law journals
- Israel Law Reports
- Kluwer Law International Journal Library
- Law in Eastern Europe
- Philippine Law Collection
- Revised Statutes of Canada
- World Treaty Library
- World Trials Library
- Westlaw and Lexis – full-text searching; not much non-English material
- SSRN – full-text working papers; great for cutting-edge research
- Google Scholar – Yale links to full-text subscription-based journals and open-access scholarship
- JSTOR – interdisciplinary, full-text, mostly US/UK; includes some Foreign/International journals
- Monographs
- We have over 200,000 foreign and international law monographs
- Begin with Keyword searches in Quicksearch, Morris
- When you find a relevant book, if you want to find more like it
- click on the Call No. (KKT246 .B46 - for example) to see what books are grouped with it -- or go to the stacks
- click on the Subject Heading (Civil Law – Spain) to find other books
- Older monographs are held in the off-campus Library Shelving Facility (LSF) and can be requested from the catalog.
- Dictionaries
- Bieber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (Morris Call Number: KF246 .B46 – Ref, F/I Ref)
- World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (Morris Call Number: K89 .K38 – Ref, F/I Ref)
- Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations – search by title or abbreviation
- Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations (Morris Call Number: K89 .G85 – Ref, F/I Ref, UES)
- Many bilingual legal dictionaries (Ref, F/I Ref, LES)