Subject and Research Guides: Law: Laws of Other Nations

Key Legal Databases

Thomson Reuters Westlaw This link opens in a new window
Full text access to case law, statutes, adminstrative materials, annotated reports, law reviews, current affairs from Hong Kong, the US, the UK, Canada & the EU.
Westlaw UK This link opens in a new window
Full text access to case law, statutes, journal, digests, and current awareness from the UK.
Lexis This link opens in a new window
Full text primary and secondary legal materials in all areas of law. The main focus is US law, however there is also substantial coverage for other jurisdictions.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Full text legal journals, reviews, books, cases and statutes predominantly from the US. Includes World Constitutions Illustrated.
WorldLII : World Legal Information Institute This link opens in a new window
A gateway to legislation, cases, treaties, journals and other material from multiple international jurisdictions.

VLex Justis This link opens in a new window
Full text online legal library of UK, European Union and international case law and legislation.

Law Research Databases
Use this link to find more Law Research databases in Multisearch.

International legal systems

Each jurisdiction's legal system will be structured differently - it is important to understand the source of primary law in a jurisdiction before you start your research.

GlobaLex This link opens in a new window
Provides introductions to the legal systems of many countries. It also provides links to official agencies and (often) English translations of primary documents.

Juriglobe
Provides an overview of legal systems and official languages worldwide and a visual educational tool for comparative and international law. The main areas of focus are: Civil law, Common law, Customary law, Muslim law, and countries with a mixed system.

LawLinks
Provides UK and international legal information, arranged by jurisdiction and topic.
Yale Country by Country Guide to Legal Research
A country-by-country guide on legal research which links to research guides and databases for each country except the United States.

Constitutions

Use the following resources to help locate the constitutions of countries world wide:

Constitute
Access to the world’s constitutions with the ability to browse by country or topic.
World constitutions illustrated : contemporary and historical documents and resources
This database aims to contain the current constitution of each country in the world in its original language and an English translation. Also included are related laws, articles and commentary, and a bibliography of relevant texts.

Associations

IACL: The International Association of Constitutional Law
The Association provides a forum for constitutionalists from around the world to understand each other’s systems and share knowledge and opinions.
UKCLA: UK Constitutional Law Association
A national body of constitutional law scholars affiliated to the IACL with the purpose of promoting the advancement of knowledge relating to United Kingdom constitutional law.