Foreign & Comparative Law
Research
University of Washington School of Law
Gallagher Law Library
March 29, 2006
Terminology
Types of Legal Systems:
Types of Law:
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• International law
Common law
Civil law
Combination of both
Religious law
Customary law
– Public
– Private (conflicts of law)
• Foreign law
• Comparative law
• Transnational law
See World Legal Systems,
http://www.droitcivil.uottawa.ca/
world-legal-systems/engmonde.html
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Some Considerations for
Foreign Law Research
1. Conceptual difficulties
2. Language barrier / translations
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Official?
Authoritative? Current?
Free translation tools on the Web
– Caveat!
– http://world.altavista.com/
– www.systransoft.com
– www.google.com/language_tools?ht=en
– www.freetranslation.com
– www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.ht
ml
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3.
Abbreviations & Acronyms
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Look in the source where you found the abbreviation
Bieber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations
World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/
Dictionaries
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Search MARIAN (keyword ex: french and dictionaries and english)
Fox, Dictionary of International and Comparative Law
European Commission
http://europa.eu.int/eurodicautom/login.jsp
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Today’s Research Session
• Understanding legal systems of other countries
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books
articles
research guides
web sites
• Finding constitutions of other countries
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books
web sites
current or previous versions?
constitutional courts
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Understanding Legal Systems of
Other Countries
• BOOKS
1. Multi-jurisdictional print sources at Gallagher Law Library
• Reynolds & Flores, Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Basic
Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World
• Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest
• Germain’s Transnational Law Research
• Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia
• Law and Judicial Systems of Nations
• Danner, Introduction to Foreign Legal Systems
• Accidental Tourist on the New Frontier: An Introductory Guide to Global
Legal Research
• Civil Law Tradition: Europe, Latin America & East Asia (historical
background)
• Comparative Legal Traditions in a Nutshell (historical background)
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2. Search for books about a country
http://marian.law.washington.edu/
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MARIAN
UW Libraries’ catalog
SUMMIT
OCLC
3. Call number list for countries
http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/forcall.htm
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3. Search by Library of
Congress subject headings
Search Terms:
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Law – (country or region)
Legal research – (country)
Courts – (country or region)
Justice administration of – (country
or region)
Comparative law
Examples:
• Law – malaysia
• Justice administration of - malaysia
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Legal Systems of Other Countries
continued…
• ARTICLES
– Indexes
• LegalTrac (1980- )
http://lib.law.washington.edu/research/dbind.html
1300+ legal journals and news articles from U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia,
and New Zealand
Also on Westlaw: Legal Resource Index (LRI)
Also on Lexis: Legal Resource Index (LGLIND)
• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) (1985- )
http://lib.law.washington.edu/research/dbind.html
550+ legal journals published worldwide
Also on Westlaw: (IFLP)
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• IFLP continued…
o Basic Search
o Advanced Search
– Subject words
» Legal Research AND country name
» Legal System? AND country name
– Keywords
» Legal AND country name
o Don’t forget to look at the subject headings assigned to an article.
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– Full-text
• HeinOnline http://lib.law.washington.edu/research/dbind.html
– PDF, (1808 – last year)
• LexisNexis
– Legal > Secondary Legal > Law Reviews & Journals
– Legal > Legal (excluding U.S.)
• Westlaw
– JLR
– Directory > International/Worldwide Materials
For Lexis & Westlaw, click on the “i” icon next to the database name for
more information.
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– Indexes & Full-text Databases from Other Disciplines
http://www.lib.washington.edu/types/databases/
• Examples by subject areas:
– African Studies, East Asia, International Studies, Near East Studies,
Scandinavian Studies, etc.
• Examples by database name:
– Expanded Academic Index or ASAP
– Index Islamicus
– PAIS International
– etc.
– Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
http://www.ssrn.com
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• RESEARCH GUIDES
– Print sources mentioned previously
– Gallagher Law Library’s guides http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/guides.html
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Countries Around the World
Foreign & Comparative Law Research
Australian Law
Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, and Korean Law
Islamic Law
– Law Library Resource Exchange
http://www.llrx.com/comparative_and_foreign_law.html
– Law Library of Congress, Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World
www.loc.gov/law/guide/nations.html
– NYU GlobaLex
http://www.nyulawglobal.com/globalex/index.html
– Foreign and International Law Sources on the Internet: Annotated
www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library/guides/foreign2/
– Columbia University Law Library
http://www.law.columbia.edu/library/Research_Guides/foreign_law/foreignguide
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• WEB SITES (w/ links to primary sources)
– World Legal Information Institute
www.worldlii.org or www.worldlii.org/catalog/215.html
Look at the links under “Legal Information Institutes” on the bottom right corner of the screen at www.worldlii.org. Separate sites
exist for Australasia, UK & Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, Pacific Islands, Southern Africa, USA, and France.
– University of Houston Law Center
http://www.law.uh.edu/libraries/fi/foreignlaw.html
– Cornell Legal Information Institute
http://www.law.cornell.edu/world/
– NYU Law Library
www.law.nyu.edu/library/foreign_intl/index.html
– Columbia University Law Library
http://www.law.columbia.edu/library/Research_Guides/foreign_law/forlawresources
– Social Science Information Gateway
www.sosig.ac.uk/law/
– Government Gazettes Online
www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/gazettes/index.htm
– Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)
http://www.glin.gov/
– FindLaw
www.findlaw.com/12international/countries/index.html
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Constitutions of Other Countries
• Books
– Constitutions of the Countries of the World
– Constitutions of the World (at Suzzallo Reference)
• Web sites
– Constitutions, Treaties, and Declarations
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/const.htm
– University of Richmond, Constitution Finder
http://confinder.richmond.edu/
– Constitutions hyperlinked from sites listed on previous two slides
• Current or previous versions?
• Constitutional courts
– Constitutional Courts
http://www.venice.coe.int/site/dynamics/N_court_links_ef.asp?L=E
– Worldwide Constitutional Courts
http://www.concourt.am/catalog/ccourt.htm
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Foreign Law Research –
General Approach
1.
Begin with Secondary Sources
- Understand the legal system of the country
- Is there a research guide for the country?
- Read analysis on your topic that puts the issues into context
- Identify primary sources/publications of law
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Find Primary Sources
- Check various library catalogs
- See if laws are posted on the Web and linked from research guides on the
Web
- Reprinted in secondary sources?
- Summary or abstract in English language?
- Interlibrary loan request
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Connecting from Off-Campus
You can connect to databases
licensed by the Gallagher Law Library or the UW Libraries
with your UW NetID.
How to: www.lib.washington.edu/help/connect.html
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Questions?
Reference Office:
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In person
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Email lawrefst@u.washington.edu
543-6794
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