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  • There may not be published sources of law for a particular country.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
• 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. 
• 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.
• Case Law
  • International Human Rights Tribunal Decisions Print Guide
  • Locating International and Foreign Decisions Print Guide
• 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)
• 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)