Internet Resources for Legal Research

 

Research Guides 

A number of very useful regularly updated guides and articles on specific legal topics or jurisdictions with links to the relevant websites.

• LLRX : Law Library Resource Xchange's page on International and Foreign Law. LLRX is a web journal which features articles by expert law librarians on research topics and legal information technology. It contains very useful articles with relevant links to updated information on various subjects and jurisdictions.
• ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law : this is a development project of the American Society of International Law and includes chapters on various topics of international law, such as the UN, human rights, treaties, international environmental law, international criminal law, private international law and international economic law.
• Guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases : this guide is compiled by the New York University Law Library and is a list of links to pages dedicated to specific jurisdictions or subjects including GlobaLex . A very useful reference tool in almost every area of law.

European Union and Council of Europe 

• List of websites  with information on European Union issues, taken from the webpages of the European Documentation Centre
• European Research Papers Archive : working papers full-text on European integration from the EUI, Max Planck Institute Cologne, ECSA Austria, ARENA Oslo, Mannheim Centre for European social research

   

International Law 

 

A selection of sources of international law, such as documents/publications of international organizations, case law, treaties, relevant for the research done at the EUI.

 

General

 

• EISIL : Electronic Information System for International Law - a comprehensive database for locating primary documents, websites, and research resources in international law (with support by ASIL)

 

International Organizations

 

• United Nations Home page : UN Charter, Statute of the ICJ, resolutions, reports, and other key documents; the Dag Hammarskjöld Library; also links to the very current United Nations Treaty Collection , which updates the annually-published treaty status & index set Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General, weekly, and includes the full text of multilateral and bilateral treaties published in the U.N.T.S.
• UN System of organizations : this is a portal to websites of the UN, its funds and programmes, and specialized agencies, e.g. FAO, UNCTAD, UNICEF, WIPO etc.
• ODS : the United Nations Optical Disk System, which comprises the full-text of all UN parliamentary documents since 1993 and all UN resolutions since 1946 issued by the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. Since the beginning of 2006 this database is freely accessible.
• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 
• International Labour Organization (ILO) 
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) 
• Organization of American States (OAS) 
• OECD 
• World Bank 
• World Trade Organization (WTO) 

 

International Courts

 

• EFTA Court 
• European Court of Justice 
• European Court of Human Rights/Cour europeen des Droits de l'Homme 
• Inter-American Court of Human Rights 
• International Court of Justice 
• International Criminal Court 
• International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia 
• International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda 
• Permanent Court of Arbitration 

 

International Treaties

 

• Multilateral conventions  in full-text, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

 

Human Rights

• Human Rights Search Engine 
• Derechos-Human Rights, the Derechos Organization 
• Amnesty International 
• Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project (RULAC)  

International Trade

 

Lex Mercatoria-International Trade/Commercial Law Monitor  University of Tromsø and University of Oslo, Norway and Pace University School of Law, White Plains, NY

Private International Law 

 

• Hague Conference on Private International Law 

 

Comparative and National Law 

 

Websites aggregating national legal sources

 

• Constitution Finder  compiled at the University of Richmond
• CODICES database on constitutional case law  in French and English containing case law of Constitutional Courts and Courts of equivalent jurisdiction in Europe

 

Australia

• Australasian Legal Information Institute  gives free internet access to Australian legal materials: case law and legislation

Austria

 

• Bundeskanzleramt 
• Rechtsfreund.at  is a portal of Austrian law

 

Belgium

 

• Law Links Belgium  provided by the Law Library of Leuven University

 

Denmark

• Retsinfo  is the legal database of the Danish government, all legislation adopted in the last 15 years

Finland

 

• Finlex  is the government official database

 

France

 

• Legifrance : database of the French government providing access to French legal sources
• Bibliotheque Cujas Internet guide 

 

Germany

 

• Bundesrecht - Gesetze 
• German law archive : cases, statutes, literature and bibliographies translated in English

 

Ireland

 

• Irish law site  provided by University College Cork
• British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)  gives free internet access to British and Irish case law, legislation and other legal materials. Now OA compatible

 

Italy

 

• Diritto & Diritti  is a portal for Italian law
• Italian Official Publications : AIB gruppo di studio sulle pubblicazioni ufficiali

 

Netherlands

 

• Dutch legislation 

 

Portugal

 

• Portuguese law 

 

Sweden

 

• Swedish law portal 

 

Switzerland

 

• Swiss Federal Court 

 

United Kingdom

 

• British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)  gives free internet access to British and Irish case law, legislation and other legal materials
• House of Lords  judgments since November 1996

 

United States

 

• US Congress  (THOMAS database)
• JURIST - Law Professors' network 

 

Gateways 

 

• SOSIG Law Gateway . Managed by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and Bristol University Law Library
• World Legal Information Institute 
• Washburn Law School Law Library  including index of and links to abstracts and full-text of legal journals   and one of the best all-around law resources on the Internet
• Saarbrücken Internet project  Legal resources in Europe 
   

Please send any suggestions you may have to Machteld Nijsten