ResearchingForeign Law

Mary M. McCormick, Head of Public Services

Florida State University College of Law Library

Where to Start

Understand the structure of the legal system in the foreign country

• Look for Research Guides for the foreign country

• Identify the sources of law for the foreign country: cases, statutes, regulations, executive decrees, etc.

• Identify what you are looking for: Law? Summaries? Explanation? Analysis?

Understanding the Structure of World Legal Systems

• University of Ottawa World Legal Systems

• Flores and Reynolds, Foreign Law Guide

• Law Library Research Xchange Comparative and Foreign Law Guides

Research Guides

• American Society of International Law

• LLRX

• JURIST

• Univ. of Chicago, D’Angelo Law Library

• NYU School of Law Library

Finding Sources of Foreign Law

• EISEL (ASIL’s Electronic Information System for International Law

• Library of Congress, • Portals to the World• GLIN

• World Law Institute

Finding Sources of Foreign Law

• Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest

• Jurist• Legal Intelligence• International and Comparative Law Subject

Guide

• CATALaw: Legal Resources by Country

• Westlaw and Lexis

Finding the Item you are Looking for

• Look by subject

• Look by jurisdiction

• WebLUIS

• WorldCAT

• EISEL

Laws in Translation

• Translations are rarely• Authoritative• Up-to-date• Of known quality

• Tips on Translation

• Problems in Translating Foreign Law

Databases for Scholarly Articles

• Social Science Research Network - SSRN• JSTOR• ISI Web of Science• Hein Online• Wilson Web• PAIS• Eureka ( for Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals)

Databases for Cutting Edge Issues

• Current Contents

• Conference Papers

• Proceedings

• Papers First

• SSRN

Discussion Lists

• INT-LAW

• EURO-LEX