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                  Introduction:

 As with international law, the secondary sources of books,articles and the Internet, serving as guides, should be studied to grasp the differences in legal research of foreign jurisdictions. Familiarity with the foreign legal system is essential, as is a basic knowledge of the vocabulary in the  language of the country. Translations are not the authoritative source, and must be used carefully. Comparative law research also involves a study of sources as well as methodology used in this research.
Secondary sources should also be used to evaluate and update the foreign law research to make sure it is accurate. Journals and law reviews can be particulary helpful in the topic or issue being researched.

Finding primary law of the researched country is the goal. The material includes case law, constitutions, statutes, regulations and administrative materials, as in U.S. legal research. The language problems and the development of the country's publishing of information can make this a difficult task. Harvard's excellent "Guide to Researching Foreign Law on the Internet" can help the researcher get started.  It addresses difficulties with this type of research and give guides ranging from subject-specific guides, to regional guides, to individual country guides. It also includes translation services to help get basic information: Free Translation.com,  Babel Fish, a tool of Alta Vista,  are examples of services. These are detailed enough to help with questions and to get started with authoritative sources. There are other Internet reference sources which are comprehensive and useful.

The researcher would prefer to find foreign law in English translation. However, it must be remembered that the translation is not authoritative, the quality is not known and it may not be up-to-date. An excellent article from NYU, one of the best web sites for researching international and foreign law discusses this: "Finding Foreign (non-U.S.) Law...in English, if Possible".
 

  Background Sources in Print:

Introduction to Foreign Legal Systems/ edited by Richard Danner and Marie-Louise H. Bernal. N.Y. : Oceana Publications, Inc., 1994.
Background material on civil law systems, common law systems, as well as the study of comparative law make this a basic text for research in foreign law. There are many bibliographies of materials specific to a foreign jurisdiction. The chapter on translation of foreign law is important if only to realize the limitations involved.
K 583 .I84 1994

Germain's Transnational Legal Research: A Guide for Attorneys / A very useful guide and updated through 2004, it gives procedural and practical issues in researching foreign and international law.  Research sources in 39 different topical areas and for 17 European countries are given. REF K85.G47 1991

Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia / ed. By Kenneth R. Redden / NY : William S. Hein & Co., 1984 A valuable guide which describes a country's legal system and gives citations to specific laws. General chapters also on special topics. Volumes are updated at different times and it is not as current as the Reynold & Flores series.
K 530 .M62

Introduction to Comparative Law / by Konrad Zweigert and Hein Kötz ; translated from the German by Tony Weir.
Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.
The development of comparative law is discussed in relation to the legal systems of the world. Common law and civil law systems, the two major legal systems are examined  as well as the religious systems (Islamic, Hindu), the Scandinavian and Far East legal systems. Part II discusses the formation and performance of contracts.
K 583 .Z813 1998

Reference Sources-Citation guide, Dictionaries:

The Bluebook: A Uniform Style of Citation (17th edition) gives the Citation form for  foreign materials: Rule 20 of the Bluebook covers this, with Table 2 listing foreign jurisdictions alphabetically.

Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (Prince's Fifth Edition) is an excellent tool to help with the many abbreviations one may come across in doing foreign legal research.  REF KF 246 .B46 2001

Restatement of the Law, Third,The Foreign Relations Law of the United States, 1987 and Supp. 1998.
Also available on LEXIS and WESTLAW  REF KF 395 .F613 A7 1987

Fox, Dictionary of International and Comparative Law. Besides meanings, it provides a key to abbreviations.
KZ 1161 .F69 2003

Dahl's law dictionary : French to English/English to French : an annotated legal dictionary, including definitions from codes, case law, statutes, and legal writing = Dictionnaire juridique Dahl / by Henry Saint Dahl. Also availabe on LEXIS.
REF K 52 .F7 D35 2001

Dahl's law dictionary : Spanish-English/English-Spanish : an annotated legal dictionary, including authoritative definitions from codes, case law, statutes, and legal writing and legal opinions of attorneys general = Diccionario jurídico Dahl / by Henry Saint Dahl.  Availabe on LEXIS. REF  K 52 .S6 D33 1999

West's Law and commercial dictionary in five languages : definitions of the legal and commercial terms and phrases of American, English, and civil law jurisdictions. REF K 54 .W47 1985  v.1 &2
 

Foreign Law Guides -  Internet Sources

Finding Foreign Law Online When Going Global-University of Chicago

A very comprehensive and useful source, providing guides to research, databases and many links to foreign law sources with English translations. The " Where to go for help" section with lists of embassies, government organizations and other agencies is very good.

WashLaw Foreign and International Law - Washburn University Law library site is an excellent starting point, with a wide variety of links to resources by jurisdiction and organizations and some specific legal topics.

Globalex

This is a new website through NYU Law School, the aim of which is to provide "Global research tools". Comprehensive country guides, written by native scholars, librarians, legal specialists of the various foreign countries, describe the legal system in detail and ways to research them.
 

Foreign Primary Law Guides:

    Reynolds, Thomas H., Foreign law : current sources of codes and basic legislation in jurisdictions of the world /   Thomas H. Reynolds, Arturo A. Flores. 3-vol. Loose-leaf series. Updated to 2004. An indispensable resource, it  is    arranged by country chapters, giving legal systems of over 150 jurisdictions. It gives historical development of the system and citations to major codes and collections of laws.
REF K 38 .R49 1989
Foreign Law Guide - Law Library access only

Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest.Summit, NJ :Martindale-Hubbell. Annual.
This set  gives brief summaries of a country's laws. Some cite to the text of the law.
Also available on LEXIS
Reserve - 1^st Floor

The Guide to Law Online - Law Library of Congress:

 Gives links for interntional, foreign and U.S. resources online.  The  Nations of the World
 provides legal and government information for virtually all nations, as well as links to research and other resources. The information is reliable and comprehensive.

Government Gazettes Online; University of Michigan internet resource. Many civil law countries include executive orders, decrees, and their regulations in this "official" publication of government legislative news. These countries do not place much value on caselaw. Statutes, treaties and scholarly interpretations of laws may be more authoritative.

Constitutions of the Countries of the World; a series of updated texts, constitutional chronologies and annotated bibliographies, 1971-Present.
Comprehensive publication of English-language texts of over 160 national constitutions.
K 3157 .A2 B5
Constitution Finder - University of Richmond; a database which offers constitutions, charters and amendments from countries, both past and present.

Foreign Primary Law on the Web - University of Houston Law Center

 A detailed guide which gives many links to foreign primary law sources. Constitution sites are given as well as country-by-country sources on the Internet.

Foreign Law Reference Sources - Legal Systems

Selected Geographic Regions

World LII - Databases

A new site that was launched in 2002 as part of the AustLII projects, it combines the other regional sites of foreign legal information. The following projects are part of this group and provide the best and most up-to-date regional government information.

Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)
British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
Hong Kong Legal Information Institute (HKLII)
Legal Information Institute (Cornell) (LII (Cornell))
Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute (PacLII)
Wits University School of Law

Hieros Gamos - All Governments of the World

Hieros Gamos provides an extensive index of information regarding all countries in the world. There are legal guides, and links to innumerable worldwide sites, depending upon the country being researched. Calling itself, the "most comprehensive legal site" it has links to principal international documents, treaties, and governmental agencies. Topics such as trade, commercial law, human rights, war and peace, intellectual property, and litigation can be searched. Indexed topics also include the United Nations, the European Union, NAFTA, GATT.

International Constitutional Law

This site contains the full texts of constitutions from numerous countries.
The text is in English and includes background materials about various constitutional documents.

 CIA World Factbook

The Factbooks, which give complete information about an extensive list of countries, including statistical, geographical, political, and economic aspects. Maps of the countries are included.

Embassies

This site has a large directory of foreign embassies within the United States, arranged alphabetically by country name. It then links to the web sites of the embassies. Also, it includes a list of American embassies overseas and additional embassy-related resources.

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Foreign and International Law Documents: Collections

Foreign Governments

NYU Collection of Foreign Databases-Collections is a comprehensive listing of important Internet sites which serve as guides to help the researcher get started.  NYU Collection of Foreign Databases-By Jurisdiction gives individual countries and for each country a detailed list of web sites specific to that country. Both of these sites are excellent as is the compete NYU site.

LII-Cornell Law School-Law from around the world

National governments can be researched by country or region. Many other useful links to other foreign country sources.

Northwestern University-Foreign Governments
This site has an alphabetical listing of foreign governments with links to their various government offices and with information such as news releases, speeches, publications, etc. It does not have the documents, only links.

Foreign Government Resources on the Web-U of Michigan
This site is arranged according to regions of the world. All countries within that region are listed as links. It is more descriptive of the government structure, but some document information may be retrieved.

Comparative Law Research:

Background Works:

Comparative Law:An Introduction/  Vivian Grosswald Curran, ed.
    An introduction to methods used in comparative law research.
K 559 .C65 2002

Major Legal Systems in the World Today / 3rd ed. /  Rene David & John E.C. Brierly
    A classic, it portrays legal systems as families, explaining historical structure, sources of law, and elements that unify diverse systems.
    K 559 .D3 1985

Comparative Law in a Changing World/ 2d ed./  Peter De Cruz.
    Good overview of the developments of world legal systems and provides references for further study.
K 561 .D42 1999

Comparative Legal Traditions in a Nutshell, 2d ed. / Glendon, Mary Ann et al
     Basic introduction; give good overview for research.
 Res K 560 . G43 1999

Legal Traditions of the World: Sustainable Diversity of Law / Glenn, H. Patrick
    Includes more of the culturally  and religious based systems as well as civil and common law.
K 559 .G545 2000

Journals and Indexes:

Loyola law library subscribes to 54 comparative law journals. They may be accessed through the online catalog in the library. Journals and law reviews are on the third floor, in order by means of a simple classification system.

The American Journal of Comparative Law is the journal of the American Society of Comparative Law.  It includes a wide range of articles on foreign and comparative law issues. The cumulative index is the only part that is online. (Periodicals)

International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Published by British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
(Periodicals)

The International Journal of Legal Information. Published by the International Association of Law Libraries. Many bibliographies and articles of topical interest.
(Periodicals)

The Electronic Journal of Comparative Law is a free online journal. which has articles on issues of Comparative Law. Another online journal, to which the law library subscribes, is: Global Jurist  which has articles as well.
Other online journals are found on the ASCL web site.

The periodical indexes, digests, encyclopedias, and other resourceslisted in the International law section are all useful for analysis, evaluation and current awareness in foreign and comparative law research. The Current Awareness web sites listed in the International Law section should be consulted frequently as well.

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