Researching International Law - Foreign Legal Systems

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INFORMATION ABOUT FOREIGN LEGAL SYSTEMS

Subject headings for locating background information about a foreign country include:

law--[country or region]
comparative law
justice, administration of--[country or region]
legal research--[country]
courts--[country or region]

Searches can be done under specific legal topics using Library of Congress subject headings with the country or region name as a subheading (for example, commercial law--latin america) or by using the country or region as a main subject heading with topical subdivisions provided by the Library of Congress as subheadings (for example, australia--politics and government or germany--constitutional law or italy--law and legislation). Periodicals are another good source for background information on a country or on a specific topic.

For more information on researching foreign law, see Researching Foreign and Comparative Law.

Legal Systems
1. International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law (New York: Oceana) [INTL REF K530 .I57].
2. Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia (K. Redden ed., Buffalo, NY: W.S. Hein 1984- ) [INTL K530 .M62 1984].
3. Merryman, Civil Law Tradition: Europe, Latin America & East Asia (Charlottesville, VA: Michie Co., 1994) [INTL K585 .M468 1994].
4. Introduction to Foreign Legal Systems (R. Danner and M. Bernal eds., New York: Oceana, 1994). [INTL K583 .I57 1994].
5. T. Reynolds & A. Flores, Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World (Littleton, CO: Rothman, 1989-) [INTL REF K38 .R49 1989]. See also the electronic version, Foreign Law Guide - GULC only.
6. Accidental Tourist on the New Frontier: An Introductory Guide to Global Legal Research (Littleton, CO: Rothman, 1998) [INTL REF & Williams K85 .A27 1998].
7. Information Sources in Law (2nd ed., London, [England] ; New Providence, N.J., [USA] : Bowker-Saur, 1997) [INTL REF KJC76 .I54 1997]. Focus is Europe.
8. Glendon, Comparative Legal Traditions in a Nutshell (2nd ed., St. Paul, MN: West Group, 1999) [Williams K560 .G43 1999].
9. Some relevant Web sites include:

Nations of the World
This site includes some information about the legal system as well as other general country information.

World Legal Systems

Strategies for Locating Foreign Government Information on the Internet

Guide to Foreign and International Databases (NYU)

General (brief overviews)
1. The Statesman's Year-Book (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1864-). [INTL REF & Williams JA51 .S7]
2. The World Almanac and Book of Facts (New York: Newspaper Enterprise Association). [INTL REF & Williams AY67.N5 W7]
3. The World Factbook (Washington, D.C.: Central Intelligence Agency). [INTL REF G122 .U56]. Also available on the web.
4. The Europa World Year Book (London: Europa Publications, 1989-). [INTL REF JN1 .E85]
5. Some useful Web sites include:

Foreign Government Resources on the Web

(CIA World Factbook, Background Notes on Countries, biographies on officials, and much more)
Foreign Governments (Northwestern University)

Revised August 2005

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