Legal Research Guides
Key E-Resources:
- Foreign Law Guide (Marci Hoffman, ed.) (subscription)Provides information about laws in approx. 190 jurisdictions. Each entry describes the legal system and key sources of laws and regulations. Includes cites to English-language translations of primary legal materials and cites to some secondary sources.
BLS students, faculty and administrators: access Foreign Law Guide while connected to Brooklyn Law School’s wireless network, while using computers in BLS Library’s computer labs, or while off campus using a web browser that communicates with the BLS proxy server. - GlobaLex (Hauser Global Law School Program, New York University School of Law)Link: Foreign Law Research yields guides for 100+ jurisdictions.
Tip: If available, click: UPDATE to view newest version of a guide. - Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World (U.S. Law Library of Congress)Provides guides for 125 jurisdictions.
Guides Provided by Libraries with Large Collections:
Chapter in a BLS Library Ebook:
International Legal Research in a Nutshell by Publication Date: 3d ed., 2021Chapter 3 highlights many sources for foreign and comparative law research. Appendix B describes sources containing translations of national law.
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBSCO. On left of resulting screen, click: EPUB Full Text (to view).
Corporate/Commercial Law-Focused Guides
- Bloomberg Law: Getting the Deal Through (GTDT) (subscription)Path: Bloomberg Law > tab: Secondary Sources > Browse International Resources includes material from Getting the Deal Through (GTDT). GTDT provides current subject overviews of nearly 30 countries' laws. These subject overviews focus on business, intellectual property and trade topics. (Countries covered vary by topic.)
Box: Litigation & Dispute Resolution: link: Country Surveys - Dispute Resolution (GTDT) outlines the court system and time limits for bringing selected civil claims in the countries covered by GTDT. - Link to Self-Register for a Bloomberg Law Academic AccountTip: Register w/ your BLS email account. Bloomberg Law will send you an email to activate your new account.
- Westlaw: Practical Law > Global Home (subscription)Path: Click: View All Jurisdictions > choose a jurisdiction > view available content by practice area. Provides data on 100+ jurisdictions. * = In-depth coverage. Includes: Country Q&A Comparison Tool. Offers: Doing Business In ... guides for selected jurisdictions.
Tip: Also conduct terms and connectors searches such as: "Islamic finance"
Lists w/ Links to Government Gazettes & Laws
- Government Gazettes Online (University of Michigan)Provides title, URL, languages, “free or fee” info., & whether the government gazette is searchable.
- World Law Guide (Lexadin)Provides 70,000+ "[l]inks to [l]egal sites in over 180 countries."
- World Legal Information Institute (coordinated by AustLII, a joint facility of the UTS and UNSW Faculties of Law)Provides “1,834 databases from 123 jurisdictions via 14 [Free] Legal Information Institutes.” Click link: All Countries.
Legal System Guides
Sources Covering Multiple Legal Systems/Traditions:
- JuriGlobe World Legal Systems (University of Ottowa) (free online)Provides overviews (in graphic form) of the world's legal systems and identifies official legal languages. Includes a "General Bibliography" about the world's legal systems.
- A New Introduction to Comparative Law (2015) by Jaakko Husa.BLS Library will acquire: Introduction to Comparative Law (2d ed. [2023?]) when this source becomes available.
Sources Focusing on European Union Law:
Sources Focusing on Islamic Law:
- Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law (2021) edited by Jens Meierhenrich & Martin LoughlinIncludes chapter: Islamic Conceptions of the Rule of Law by Luc Heuschling.
Sources Focusing on Specific Jurisdictions:
Canada:
China:
France:
Germany:
Italy:
Japan:
Mexico:
Russia:
South Africa:
Spain:
Ukraine:
United Kingdom: