Hauser Global Law School Program, NYU School of Law, GlobaLex
Link: Foreign Law Research
Hosts 100+ country-specific research guides. These guides describe foreign legal systems, identify key sources of law, and, when possible, link to websites containing primary sources of law.
Law Library of Congress, Guide to Law Online: Nations
Select jurisdiction and link: Legislative
Provides access to websites of: government bodies that enact laws; official gazettes (containing enacted legislation in civil law-oriented jurisdictions); and collections of law.
World Legal Information Institute
Link: All Countries
Indexes, and links to, many foreign countries' laws through "Legal Information Institutes" supported by governments, universities and library associations. Some LIIs (examples: AUSTLII and SAFLII) link to many types of publicly accessible legal material.
Free:
European Union, EUR-Lex
Use link: Official Journal to retrieve a document by citation as published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Use link: Search in Legislation to retrieve documents by type and keywords.
Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Information Network
If a researcher does not reach a GLIN screen that allows one to search by Jurisdictions & Dates, click: More Search Options.
Provides summaries of foreign laws in English. Includes selected jurisdictions’ laws and regulations in the vernacular (PDF).
Subscription:
Path: Search > Global Law
Click: region or country name to view available material. Depth of coverage varies by jurisdiction.
(Accessible to BLS faculty, students and administrators. Contact Bloomberg account manager Pamela Haahr (oribe@bloomberg.net) to obtain a username and password.)
ISinoLaw (China) > English
Link: Enter into the Database directs one to a page of "Primary Resources," including English translations of judgments of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China.
Path: Enter into the Database > Specialized Sections provides subject-arranged English translations of China's laws and judicial interpretations.
(Accessible to BLS faculty, students and administrators on-campus, in BLS housing, and elsewhere off-campus if one has implemented the proxy instructions. Single-user access subscription. Please log out when done.)
Justis.com (U.K.)
In the right frame, click: Continue to Justis (Accessible via range of BLS IP addresses. There is no password/client code for Justis.) Provides PDF versions of cases published in The Law Reports and Weekly Law Reports. Includes UK statutes and regulations as originally enacted.
(Accessible to BLS faculty, students and administrators on-campus, in BLS housing, and elsewhere off-campus if one has implemented the proxy instructions.)
Jutastat (South Africa)
A BLS researcher can make an appointment with librarian Jean Davis (jean.davis@brooklaw.edu) to learn how to search this subscription database. It includes South African statutes and regulations, as well as Juta's South African Law Reports and a database of unreported decisions.
(BLS username/password required.)
(Accessible to BLS faculty, students and administrators on-campus, in BLS housing, and elsewhere off-campus if one has implemented the proxy instructions.)
Path: Research Now > Legal: Find Laws by Country or Region
Click: region or country name to view available material. Depth of coverage varies by jurisdiction.
Path: Directory > International/Worldwide Materials >
Click: region or country name to view available material. Depth of coverage varies by jurisdiction.
Free:
The World Bank, Doing Business Law Library (provides selected foreign banking, securities, commercial/company and bankruptcy laws--some of these codes, laws and regulations are in English)
Beneath "Choose Economies," bullet: Selected Economies
Now, beneath "Choose Economies," Select economy: Show All
Check the box to the left of a country's name & click: Create Report
Searc results (laws) appear at the bottom of the screen.
Bank for International Settlements, Central Bank Websites (some websites of central banks provide banking laws)
Example:
Find "United Kingdom" in BIS's list and link to: Bank of England. BoE's website includes a "quick link" that summarizes, and provides the text of, the UK's new Banking Act 2009.
International Organization of Securities Commissions, Ordinary Members of IOSCO (links to websites of securities regulators in 110 foreign jurisdictions)
Example:
Find "Switzerland" in IOSCO's list and link to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. FINMA's website provides an English-language summary (dated Sept. 14, 2009) of a recently released FINMA report: Financial Market Crisis and Financial Market Supervision.
Tab: Regulation
provides Swiss laws regarding banks, insurers and stock
exchanges/markets. Selected documents are available in unofficial
English translation.
Subscription:
Harold S. Bloomenthal & Samuel Wolff, International Capital Markets & Securities Regulation (provides commentary and selected foreign laws--updated three times per year)
Offers commentary regarding securities regulation in the U.S. and in many foreign jurisdictions. Includes English-language reprints of selected laws, rules, codes of conduct and other documents.
Tip: In Westlaw's database of this treatise, click: Table of Contents.
Commentary appears in Parts I-VII
Laws and other primary source documents appear in Source Material
National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, InterAm Database
Provides the text (vernacular) of many Latin American jurisdictions’ commercial and tax laws. Includes selected English translations, particularly translations of Mexico’s commercial laws.
(Password required, BLS faculty, students and administrators can contact the librarian on duty at the BLS Library reference desk for assistance.)