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Starting Points for Foreign Law Research

This guide highlights foreign law sources available to Brooklyn Law School patrons. Developed by Victoria Szymczak and revised by Brooklyn Law School Librarians

Legal Research Guides

Key E-Resources:

Foreign Law Guide (Marci Hoffman, general ed.) (subscription)
In BLS Library's SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - BRILL.
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.
GlobaLex (Hauser Global Law School Program, New York University School of Law)
Tab: "Foreign Law" yields research guides for 100+ jurisdictions.
Excerpt from description: "The most up-to-date version of each article is listed in alphabetical order by the name of the jurisdiction."
Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World (U.S. Law Library of Congress)
Provides 220 guides.

Guides Provided by Libraries with Large Collections:

Note: Some links to subscription databases in these guides will not be accessible to the public.

Chapter in a BLS Library Ebook:

International and Foreign Legal Research in a Nutshell by Marci Hoffman
Publication Date: 4th ed., 2025

Chapter 3 highlights many sources for foreign and comparative law research. Appendix B describes sources containing translations of national law.

Corporate/Commercial Law-Focused Guides

Bloomberg Law > tab: Secondary Sources > Browse International Resources provides Lexology Panoramic (subscription)
Path: Bloomberg Law > tab: Secondary Sources > Browse International Resources includes material from Lexology Panoramic's subject overviews of nearly 30 countries' laws. These subject overviews focus on business, finance, health care insurance/litigation, insurance, intellectual property and trade topics. (Countries covered vary by topic.)
Box: Litigation & Dispute Resolution (Panoramic) outlines the court system and time limits for bringing selected civil claims in the countries covered by Lexology Panoramic.
Link to Self-Register for a Bloomberg Law Academic Account
Tip: Register w/ your BLS email account. Bloomberg Law will send you an email to activate your new account.
Westlaw: Practical Law > Global Home
Run keyword search: "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:

The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law (2019) edited by Roger Masterman & Robert Schütze
The Impact of Common Law and Civil Law Traditions on Cross-Border Transactions (law stated as of June 1, 2023) by Raimondo Premonte (in Westlaw)
Introduction to Comparative Law (2023) by Jaakko Husa.
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBC. ID and password required. Registration required for first-time use . 1 digital copy available.
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.
Mixed Legal Systems, East and West (2015) edited by Vernon Valentine Palmer, Mohamed Y. Mattar & Anna Koppel

Sources Focusing on European Union Law:

European Union Law Including Brexit and Beyond in a Nutshell (2021) by Ralph H. Folsom

Sources Focusing on Islamic Law:

Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law (2021) edited by Jens Meierhenrich & Martin Loughlin
Includes chapter: Islamic Conceptions of the Rule of Law by Luc Heuschling.
Fatwa and the Making and Renewal of Islamic Law: From the Classical Period to the Present (2023) by Omer Awass
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBC. ID and password required. Registration required for first-time use . 1 digital copy available.
Introduction to Jurisprudence: Classical and Islamic (2007) by Muhammed Twafig Ladan
Islamic Law in a Nutshell (2020) by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Islamic State As a Legal Order: To Have No Law But Islam, Between Shari'a and Globalization (2022) by Federico Lorenzo Ramaioli
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBC. ID and password required. Registration required for first-time use . Multiple digital copies available.
Shari'a: Islamic Law in the Contemporary Context (2007) edited by Abbas Amanat & Frank Griffel
Shariʻah law: An Introduction (2008) by Mohammad Hashim Kamali

Sources Focusing on Specific Jurisdictions:

Canada:

Introduction to the Law and Legal System of Canada (2013) by Nancy McCormack & Melanie R. Bueckert
Osgoode Hall Law School Library Research Guides
Includes: Canadian Legislation and Parliamentary Materials + Canadian Cases.
Une Véritable Justice équitable, décolonisée, Par et Pour les Peuples Autochtones (2023) by Pierre Rousseau
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBC. ID and password required. Registration required for first-time use . Multiple digital copies available.
Unsettling Colonialism in the Canadian Criminal Justice System (2023) by Vicki Chartrand & Josephine Savarese, eds.
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBC. ID and password required. Registration required for first-time use . Multiple digital copies available.

China:

China's Legal System (2013) by Pitman Potter
China's Legal System: An Interpretation of Its Structure, Principles, and Institutions (2023) by Jingwen Zhu, Tao Meng, Hao Peng, Hui Feng, Xinyan Liu & Xiaolong Peng, eds.
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBSCO. . 1 digital copy available.
Chinese Law: Context and Transformation (2016) by Jianfu Chen
Chinese Law and Legal Research (2nd ed. 2023) by Wei Luo
Chinese Legal Reforms: Transformations in a Decade (2024) by Lu Xu
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBC. ID and password required. Registration required for first-time use . 1 digital copy available.
The Legal System of the People's Republic of China in a Nutshell (4th ed. 2023) by Daniel C.K. Chow
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBSCO. . 1 digital copy available.
On Contemporary Chinese Legal System (2023) by Xiaobo Dong & Yafang Zhang
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBSCO. . 1 digital copy available.
On the Standardization of Chinese Legislative Language (2023) by Xiaobo Dong & Yafang Zhang
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBSCO. . 1 digital copy available.
A Study of Legal Tradition of China From a Culture Perspective: Searching for Harmony in the Natural Order (2023) by Zhiping Liang
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBSCO. . 1 digital copy available.

France:

French Law: A Comparative Approach (2nd ed. 2018) by Eva Steiner
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - OXFORD. .
Introduction to French Law (2012) by George A. Bermann & Etienne Picard

Germany:

Italy:

The Italian Legal System: An Introduction (2nd ed. 2015) by Michael A. Livingston

Japan:

The Japanese Legal System in a Nutshell (2020) by Colin P.A. Jones & Frank S. Ravitch

Mexico:

Mexico and Its Legal System: Lawyers' Essays on the Continuing Evolution (2018) edited by Yurixhi Gallardo & Patrick Del Duca
Mexican Law and Legal Research (2014) by Jonathan Pratter, Lyonette Louis-Jacques, Bianca Anderson, Marisol Floren-Romero, Teresa M. Miguel-Stearns, Julienne E. Grant, Sergio D. Stone & Jootaek Lee
The Mexican Legal System: A Comprehensive Research Guide (2013) by Francisco Avalos
See also: Francisco A. Avalos, UPDATE: Researching Mexican Law and Mexican Legal System (Nov./Dec. 2019), https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Mexico1.html

Russia:

South Africa:

Beyond Expropriation Without Compensation: Law, Land Reform and Redistributive Justice in South Africa (2024) by Olaf Zenker, Cherryl Walker & Zsa-Zsa Boggenpoel, eds.
In SARA catalog record, click line: "Online resources: Beyond expropriation without compensation" (open access)
Introduction to the Law of South Africa (C.G. van der Merwe & Jacques E. du Plesis eds., 2004)

Spain:

Spanish Law and Legal System (2006) by Elena Merino-Blanco

Ukraine:

Competition and Intellectual Property Law in Ukraine (2023) by Heiko Richter
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - EBSCO. . 1 digital copy available.
The Law and Legal System of Ukraine (2005) by Alexander Biryukov & Inna Shyrokova

United Kingdom:

Slapper & Kelly's The English Legal System (20th ed. 2024) by David Kelly

Last Updated: Oct 13, 2025 3:52 AM
URL: https://guides.brooklaw.edu/foreign
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