TMLL Research Guide - Chapter 11

BASIC FOREIGN LAW RESEARCH

Cautions on Performing Foreign Law Research

The following cautions on undertaking foreign law research are summarized from Susan Van Syckel, Strategies for Identifying Sources of Foreign Law: an Integrated Approach, 13 TRANSNAT'L LAW. 289 (2000):

1. There may not be published sources of law for the country you are researching;
   
2. if there are published sources, they may not be in English;
   
3. if they're in English, a particular law library might not have them; and
   
4. if the library has them, they may not be current, or the translations may be inaccurate.

Furthermore, without knowing something about the legal system of the country you are researching, it will be difficult to evaluate the reliability of the sources you find. And even if they are reliable, you won’t know how to use them. For example, suppose you find a relevant case from a court in the country whose law you are researching. Are cases binding or even persuasive in the courts of your target country? What is the relationship between cases and statutes?

Selected Sources for Foreign Law Research

Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest (REFERENCE KF190 M222, Level 2)
Part of the multi-volume Martindale-Hubbell directory set, this portion is updated annually and contains summaries of the laws of over sixty countries and of the European Community. A description of the governmental and legal systems of each country is also provided. Electronic version: Lexis (Source Directory path: Legal (excluding U.S.)/Multinational Publications/Law Digests.

Constitutions of the Countries of the World (K3157 A2B4, Level 4)
English translations of constitutions of nations of the world. Includes annotated bibliographies.

Thurgood Marshall Law Library International and Foreign Law Specialty Page http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/researchguides/specialtypages/
internationalresources.html
This page contains a guide to all foreign laws known available on the Internet. Some are in English, some in the country's original language. Care should be taken when accessing legislation on the Internet to try to find official legislative or government servers. The Marshall page tries to link to authoritative indexes and official government servers where known and available.