LibGuides: Foreign Law Research: Search Strategies

Search Strategies

Step 1. Determine and Understand the structure of the foreign legal system

Step 2. Determine Relevant Country Background Information

Step 3. Determine what information is needed and how to find it

Step 1. Determine and understand the structure of the foreign legal system

a. Determine the type of legal system.

Juriglobe
Provides a quick overview of the legal system for a specific country. Countries are identified by their prevailing legal system. Includes brief descriptions
Common law systems and mixed systems with Common law
Law determined by precedent and judicial decisions. Like that of Civil law, the Common law system has taken on a variety of cultural forms throughout the world. Notwithstanding the significant nuances that such diversity can sometimes create, and which political circumstances further accentuate, this category includes political entities whose law, for the most part, is technically based on English Common law concepts and legal organizational methods which assign a pre-eminent position to case-law, as opposed to legislation, as the ordinary means of expression of general law. Thus this category includes political entities that have more or less close ties with the English tradition and that sometimes possess an abundance of codes, legislation and non-jurisprudential normative instruments, but for which Common law jurisprudence retains its character as the fundamental law (e.g. California in the United States).
Civil law systems and mixed systems with Civil law
Law determined by codes/statutes; past judicial decisions are not used as legal precedent, law should be in the code. In this category you will find political entities that, apart from other sources, have drawn their inspiration largely from the Roman law heritage and which, by giving precedence to written law, have resolutely opted for a systematic codification of their general law. However, you will also find political entities, generally with mixed legal systems, which may not have resorted to the technique of codification but which have retained, to varying degrees, a sufficient number of elements of Roman law as "Raison écrite" to warrant their affiliation to the civilian tradition (e.g. Scotland). On the other hand, this category also includes political entities less influenced by Roman law but whose law, whether codified or not, is founded on a perception of the role of statute law which, in many regards, approaches that of countries with a "pure" civilian tradition (e.g. Scandinavian countries, which occupy an original position in the Civil law, or sometimes called "Romano-Germanic", family).
A Primer on the Civil-Law System
An overview for judges and lawyers who want to expand their knowledge of the civil-law tradition. The authors discuss the history of the civil-law system, beginning with the Roman Empire. References are made to the civil-law systems of France and Germany and Chile and Brazil because of their strong influence on many other systems. The authors review the basic features of the modern-day civil-law tradition and compare the civil-law and common-law systems.
Customary law systems and mixed systems with Customary law
Today, hardly any political entity in the world operates under a legal system which could be said to be typically and wholly customary. Custom can take on many guises, depending on whether it is rooted in wisdom born of concrete daily experience or more intellectually based on great spiritual or philosophical traditions. Be that as it may, customary law (as a system, not merely as an accessory to positive law) still plays a sometimes significant role, namely in matters of personal status, in a relatively high number of political entities with mixed legal systems. This obviously applies to a number of African countries but is also the case, albeit under very different circumstances, as regards the law of China or India, for example.
Muslim law systems and mixed systems with Muslim law
The Muslim legal system is an autonomous legal system which is of a religious nature and predominantly based on the Koran. In a number of countries of Muslim tradition, it tends to be limited to the laws relating to personal status, although personal status can be rather broadly defined.
Mixed Systems
The term "mixed", which we have chosen over other terms such as "hybrid" or "composite", should not be construed restrictively, as certain authors have done. Thus this category includes political entities where two or more systems apply cumulatively or interactively, but also entities where there is a juxtaposition of systems as a result of more or less clearly defined fields of application.

Comparative Legal Traditions in a Nutshell by Mary Ann Glendon; Paolo G. Carozza; Colin B. Picker
Call Number: Online

ISBN: 9780314285607

Publication Date: 2015-11-20

This nutshell offers a general introduction to comparative law that includes both an overview of the methods of comparative law as well as of the two most widespread legal traditions in the world: civil (or Romano-Germanic) law and common law. For both legal traditions, this expert discussion covers their history; legal structures, including constitutional systems, courts, and judicial review; the roles of central legal actors, including lawyers, judges, and scholars; an overview of civil and criminal procedure; the principal sources of law and divisions of substantive law; and the judicial process. Throughout, the discussion also includes references to the place and the importance of supranational law and institutions and their impact on the civil law and common law traditions in Europe.
Legal Traditions of the World by Patrick Glenn
Call Number: 4th Stacks ; K559 .G54 2014

ISBN: 9780199669837

Publication Date: 2014-08-01

Legal Traditions of the World places national laws in the broader context of major legal traditions, those of chthonic (or indigenous) law, talmudic law, civil law, islamic law, common law, hindu law and confucian law. Each tradition is examined in terms of its institutions and substantive law, its founding concepts and methods, its attitude towards the concept of change and its teaching on relations with other traditions and peoples. The book will be invaluable to law students and lawyers engaged in comparative or transnational work, historians, social scientists and all those interested in the legal traditions that underpin the world's major societies.

More Guidance on Researching Legal Systems

Step 2. Determine Relevant Country Background Information

Often you will need other information about a country, such as its GDP, its political leaders, literacy rates, etc. There are many electronic and print sources for this information.

The CIA World Factbook
Detailed reports on a country's economy, commerce, finances and other related information.
Business Source Complete
This database provides company information by country, including articles from business journals, magazines and newspapers including the Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly and many others.

Step 3. Determine what information is needed and how to find it

What information is needed?
- Constitution, Statutes, Case Law, Journal article, etc.
- Do you need an English translation?
- Electronic or Print?
Now that you know what you need, how will you find it?
- What information do you have that will enable you to find what you need within the available sources?
- You need to identify available secondary sources as well as primary ones. Do you have a citation to the law, article, etc.? What are the dates?
- Once you have identified the source, to determine if the item is available, consult these two sources:

UC Law SF Catalog
To find books online or in print, use the UC Law SF Library catalog. You can also use this resource to search for journals or articles.
WorldCat
Locate books and articles available in libraries around the world. You can use the same subject headings from the searches shown above. Use the blue button in the item record to place an interlibrary loan request for the item.
Find Articles
Find Books

Search UC Law SF Catalog

You should try a few different strategies for searching the library catalog:

If you need a code and you have the name of the code, try using part, or all of the name in a keyword search and a title search.

Sample Catalog Search: Keyword French Civil Code

For research on smaller and more obscure countries, or for a region, try a keyword search and a title search with the name of the country or region and the word "law" will bring up secondary materials analyzing the relevant law. e.g. Latin American Law. Be aware that some countries have changed their names; you should search under both names.

Sample Catalog Search: Title Search Latin American Law

You can also try a subject search using the broad area of law followed by the country name e.g., criminal law Canada. Available subject headings include administrative law, civil law, civil procedure, commercial law, contracts, criminal law, criminal procedure, labor laws and legislation, real property, securities, and taxation law and legislation. Some narrower topics are included; e.g., antitrust law Middle East. (Not every country will have materials indexed under every subject heading.)

Sample Catalog Search: Subject contains exact phrase Civil procedure AND Subject contains Canada

If you need something not covered by the subject headings above, try a keyword search: e.g., Australia privacy. You may want to repeat the keyword search with variants of the name-e.g., copyright law China, Chinese copyright law.

Sample Catalog Search: Any field contains Australia privacy OR Any field contains Australian privacy

If you are looking for a print guide on legal research in a particular country, try a subject search like:

Legal research -- Australia

Research guides and bibliographies may be contained in journal articles or in a chapter of a more general book.

Guide to International Legal Research

This guide includes information on foreign legal research.

UC Law SF Foreign Law Subscription Databases

Foreign Law Guide
A comprehensive index and research guide to current sources of codes and basic legislation in jurisdictions of the world.
GlobaLex: Foreign Law Research
An extensive list of foreign and international law research guides hosted at NYU School of Law.
LawInfoChina
ChinaLawInfo, also known as Beida Fabao, pkulaw.com, or pkulaw.cn, is a comprehensive database that includes Chinese laws, regulations, and cases. It offers content in both Chinese (ChinaLawInfo) and English/Chinese (LawInfoChina). LawInfoChina is an excellent resource for finding English translations of Chinese laws, regulations, and judicial cases. This subscription database provides access to both the original Chinese texts and their English translations. It is accessible with IP access both on and off campus. By using LawInfoChina and comparing it with free Chinese law websites, you can be confident that you have located the most relevant laws and regulations on a specific topic.
Practical Law: Global
Practical Law (from Westlaw) provides access to extensive global research guides and subject-based country comparison tools.
EUR-Lex (European Union Law)
Free online access to European Union law and other E.U. documents, including daily editions of the Official Journal of the European Union, Court of Justice case law, and preparatory acts.
Foreign & International Law Resources (HeinOnline)
FILRD includes the publications of the American Society of International Law along with prominent Yearbooks from around the world, including the Hague Permanent Court of International Justice series. Includes U.S. Law Digests, International Tribunals/Judicial Decisions and more.
Global Regulation
Provides access to a rapidly growing searchable database of 763,843 regulations from jurisdictions around the world.
World Constitutions Illustrated (HeinOnline)
This library enables legal scholars to research the constitutional and political development of every country in the world. It includes the current constitution for every country in its original language format and an English translation, as well as substantial constitutional histories for countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and many more. It also includes constitutional periodicals, thousands classic books, other related works such as the World Fact Book, links to scholarly articles and online resources, and bibliographic references.
Full List of Foreign Law Subscription Databases