LAW Foreign Legislation
Foreign law is the domestic, national or internal law of a country or jurisdiction.This guide is intended to help researchers locate the legislation of foreign jurisdictions.
Legal Information Institutes (LIIs)
LIIs are one of the best places to look for legislation, court decisions and other primary legal materials. Legal materials are available at various LLI websites for particular countries or groups of countries:
- World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII)Free, independent and non-profit access to worldwide law
- Commonwealth Legal Information Insitute (CommonLII)Free access to Commonwealth and Common Law
- Pacific Islands Legal Information InstituteA facility of the University of the South Pacific Faculty of Law
- Asian Legal Information InsituteFree access to Asian Law
- Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII)Legal information for free public access which comprises mainly of case law and legislation from South Africa. SAFLII also hosts legal materials from other countries in the region which are obtained through partnerships, collaborative efforts and more recently through linking to other Legal Information Institutes established in these regions.
- Hong Kong Legal Information Institute (HKLII)Free access to legal information in Hong Kong
Secondary Sources
Under the Home tab are further suggestions for conducting foreign legal research.
- LLMC DigitalLLMC Digital is a project of the Law Library Microform Consortium, a law-library-based, non-profit, cooperative dedicated to the twin goals of preserving legal titles and government documents. It is a database of fulltext legal materials for a variety of jurisdictions: U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc. It includes historical legal materials such as case reports, administrative decisions, statutes, regulations and texts or treatises.
- Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals This link opens in a new windowThe Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, produced by The American Association of Law Libraries, provides access to legal literature worldwide, covering all forms of foreign (non-Anglo-American) law. This includes comparative law and legal systems, such as Islamic law; socialist law; public and private international law; and transnational commercial law. The data is not limited by country of publication, but rather type of publication. Thus, while publications concerning British and American law are not included, British and American publications concerning foreign law are included. Coverage begins with 1985, digitized version of print edition available back to 1960.
Selected Government websites
Government websites are the official sources for law.
- LegifranceFrance
- India CodeIndia Code Information System contains all Central Acts of Parliament from 1836 onwards. Each Act includes: Short Title, Enactment Date, Sections, Schedule and also Foot notes. Content is published and managed by Ministry of Law and Justice, Legislative Department.
- Irish Statute BookIreland
Other Legal Resources
These are selected websites of major compilations on the internet:
- Database of the Constitutions of Sub-Saharan AfricaIncludes the constitutional documents for 52 Sub-Saharan countries since their independence. The collection contains constitutions, as well as amendments and constitutional bills. The documents are provided in their original language, and, when available, in their English translation. The number of countries includes unrecognised self-declared de facto sovereign states such as Somaliland, Puntland, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.Was produced with support of the German Foundation for Peace Research.
- Insitute for Transnational LawForeign Law Translations
University of Texas - Irish Law SiteKey resources hosted by University College Cork Law Faculty
- Acts OnlineSouth Africa
- PolitySouth Africa
- Last Updated: Sep 21, 2023 8:29 AM
- URL: https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/guides/foreignlegislation
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