Introduction to Foreign Legal Research

Researching the law of another legal jurisdiction can be frustrating. The goal of this research guide is to minimize your frustration.

Choosing a Jurisdiction:

Not all Laws are in English

The primary source materials of a foreign jurisdiction will be in the official language of that jurisdiction. So chose a jurisdiction where you speak the language, unless you are content with using secondary source materials. You may be lucky and find English language materials, but bear in mind this will be the exception. You might want to do some test research just to see if the area you are interested in will have English language materials available.

Getting Background:

Civil Law, Common Law or Other

When you are researching another jurisdiction the first step should be to make sure you understand the structure of legal materials in that jurisdiction and something about the specific area of the law in which you are interested.

Guides

There are more and more guides to different foreign jurisdictions.

  • Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Legislation (online BU Only and Law Ref Desk K38 R49 1989) - history and legal publications of other legal jurisdictions.
  • Globalex (NYU Law School) - a good sources for guides to different legal jurisdictions
  • Comparative and Foreign Law (LLRX) - guides for foreign jurisdictions
  • BU catalog - subject search of:
    • legal Research--[geographic region]
    • law--[geographic region]--bibliography
    • legal bibliography--[geographic region]
  • International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law
  • Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia
  • Major Legal Systems of the World Today

Secondary Sources

As in any area of research you look to scholarly and news articles for background before you dive into primary sources. I have devided this into three parts, the sources specific to non-U.S. jurisdictions, the traditional U.S. sources and current awareness.

Non-U.S. Sources

U.S. Sources

Current Awareness

Looking at the Law:

In English or Not In English

Even though most legal materials will not be in English, more and more is available in translation. So first look to see if you can find what you need in translation. BU Law collects the laws of England and Canada, but these are also well-represented on the Internet.

Identifying Sources of Translations

  • Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Legislation (online BU Only and Law Ref Desk K38 R49 1989) - lists English translations available in books
  • Collections Database Search of Subjects and Jurisdictions (Library of Congress) - lists books that have English translations of foreign laws. Can be searched
  • World Law Guide (Lexadrin) - links to Engish and non-English laws for each jurisdiction.
  • WorldLII - contains English databases as well as links to non-Enlish sources
  • BU Foreign Law by Country - may contain English sources
  • BU Foreign Law by Subject - may contain English sources

Using non-English Primary Sources

It is possible to find laws in a language not your own. The best is to find a citation and use that in an official database. There are also English interfaces to non-English collections of laws. If you can find the piece of legislation you need you might be able to find a native speaker to do an unofficial translation for you. It depends on the purpose for which you are using the law.

  • GLIN (Library of Congress) - contains both full-text and abstracts of laws searchable in English
  • N-lex (Publications Office of the European Communities) - links to country legislation and is searchable in English.
  • BU Foreign Law by Country - identifies primary sources available on the web
  • BU Foreign Law by Subject - identifies web sources that contain primary sources

If you cannot find the law you are looking for on the Internet and you do have a citation you may look on the Harvard catalog to determine if they have the source you are looking for. The library can write you a letter to go to Harvard to retrieve materials that are not available at BU.

Using an Example:

Criminal Law of Chile

If you chose Chile most of your sources will only be in Spanish. Using the steps outlined in this guide you would find:

  • Getting Background: Reynolds and Flores You find out that Chile is a civil law jurisdiction which has a criminal code: Codigo Penal of 12 Nov. 1865. It also gives you links to English excerpts and a Spanish version on a government website. If you look under "Criminal" as a subject heading you get a reference to the Diario Oficial (the official gazette of Chile) for several important recent amendments. There is also a citation to International Encyclopedia of Laws from 2004.
  • Getting Background: Using a Guide The article from Globalex tells you about the Chilean governmental structure and different types of legislation. But it doesn't give you any direct information about my topic. And LLRX doesn't have an article about Chile.
  • Getting Background: Using Legal Articles Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals search on "Chile" and "criminal" produces mainly articles in Spanish and they make clear that there was an important reform in the area of criminal procedure. Searching the Peace Palace Catalogue results in a number of articles on Pinocet in English and textbooks in Spanish on criminal law.
  • Identifying Sources of Translations Looking at BU Foreign Law by Subject you will find the OAS National Criminal Laws website but unfortunately the Criminal Code only available in Spanish. You would also find a PDF copy at Refworld if you search by country. Using the BU Foreign Law by Country you can find the Penal Code at the Chilean Library of Congress, but again in Spanish. There are probably other sources of the Penal Code however the chance of finding an English translation is small. In this case there is no translation available so you would have to work with the Penal Code in the original.

Foreign legal research can be challenging. If you have any questions or would like some assistance with your foreign legal research project, please stop by the Reference Desk, Pappas Law Library Reading Room, or submit a research appointment request or email the Reference staff your question. You can also take a CALI Lesson in Foreign Legal Research (student password needed).

 

Page maintained by Stefanie Weigmann
Last updated: January 2009