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International and Comparative Family Law Seminar

International and Comparative Family Law Seminar

You may contact Susan Herrick, the course liaison, for research-related questions at sherrick@law.umaryland.edu.

Getting Started

With any project, unless you are already knowledgeable about the topic area, it is best to start with basic, introductory resources and then to consult more focused works, moving from secondary sources to primary sources.

Secondary sources such as articles and books can provide you with an overview of your topic and help you think of search terms you might not have thought of otherwise. They also cite primary authorities such as statutes and cases. You can use the primary sources cited in secondary sources as a jumping off point to find other primary sources in several ways:

Shepardize or KeyCite them to see what other sources have cited them;
Read cases to see what other sources they cite;
On Westlaw or in West Digests, look up the topics and key numbers in the cases you've already read to find other cases that address the same issues;
On Lexis, use "More Like This" to find other sources with wording or citation patterns similar to the document you started with;
Read annotations to statutes to find cross references to cases that have analyzed them or regulations that have been issued under their authority.

Secondary Sources: Journals & Law Reviews

The two main indexes to law journals are LegalTrac and Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (which includes books as well). These indexes include references to many journals not included in Westlaw or Lexis databases and in some cases provide access to the full text electronically. Each of these two online indexes has a parallel print version: the Current Law Index (K33 .C87), and the Index to Legal Periodicals (K9 .N32) are shelved near the print journals on level 1. The Index to Legal Periodicals is particularly helpful if you need to find articles published prior to 1980. You may want to also try the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. This index, available electronically on Research Port, on Westlaw as IFLP and in paper (K33 .I5), indexes mainly non-English language legal journals, but uses English subject headings. For additional help on finding articles, link to Finding Articles in Legal Journals and Law Reviews. Also, don't overlook general periodical indexes such as Academic Search Premier, which indexes and abstracts more than 4,500 journals.

Most print journals are shelved on level 1 of the library, in alphabetical order by journal title. To find out if the library has a particular journal title in electronic format, use the e-journals link on the Library web page or ask a librarian for help.

Journals:

While many general law reviews publish articles on family and children's issues, there are a few that focus specifically on foreign and international. These are listed below. Links are to full-text of journals through our e-journals links, and other availability is noted in parentheses. Be aware that on Westlaw most of these journals have only selected articles available.

International Journal of Children's Rights (see this title in the Library's list of electronic journals for other access options)
International Journal of Law, Policy, and the Family (see this title in the Library's list of electronic journals for other access options)
Canadian Journal of Family Law
Journal of Family Studies
European Human Rights Law Review (Periodical Stacks; Westlaw)
Harvard Human Rights Journal (also available in Periodical Stacks; Lexis; Westlaw)
New York Law School Journal of Human Rights (also available in Periodical Stacks; Lexis; Westlaw)

Books

Use the online catalog to find relevant treatises available in the Thurgood Marshall Law Library. Some suggested subject headings to search are Children (International Law) OR Children - Legal status, laws. etc - [Jurisdiction]; OR Children's Rights - [Jurisdiction]; (e.g., Children's Rights - European Union) OR Family policy - [Jurisdiction] OR Domestic Relations - [Jurisdiction]. For research hints on how to use the catalog, see the Research Guide - Searching the Catalog. Some general treatises are:

Families, politics and the law : perspectives for East and West Europe. Edited by Mavis Maclean and Jacek Kurczewski. Oxford [England] : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1994. General Stacks KJC1105 .F36 1994

Protecting the world’s children: impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in diverse legal systems. Edited by Janusz Symonides. Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate: UNESCO Pub., 2003.
General Stacks - K3240 .H8575 2003

Changing contours of domestic life, family and law:caring and sharing. Edited by Anne Bottomley and Simone Wong. Oxford ; Portland, Or. : Hart Pub., 2009. Series - Oñati international series in law and society. General Stacks K670 .C48 2009

International justice for children. Strasbourg : Council of Europe Publishing, 2008. General Stacks - KJC9655 .I58 2008.

Family law in the world community:cases, materials, and problems in comparative and international family law. D. Marianne Blair.
2nd ed., Durham, N.C. : Carolina Academic, c2009. General Stacks K670 .B58 2009

Primary Sources: Treaties

You can find relevant treaties in a number of locations, including the web sites of the United Nations, the European Union, and the U.S. Senate. The list below includes some treaty sites that focus on human rights (including children's issues):

US Department of State - Treaty Affairs
Human Rights Treaties and Other Instruments (University of Minnesota Human Rights Library)
International Human Rights Instruments (U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)
Multilaterals Project (Fletcher School, Tufts University)

Primary Sources: Country Materials

You can find relevant individual country materials on Lexis (in the Directory Legal- Find Laws by Country or Region) and Westlaw (Directory Databases- International/Worldwide Materials.) Also, for individual countries consult the Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest (paper - Reference Collection KF190 .M222) and Lexis (Legal- Find Laws by Country or Region - Search International Law Digests)

Free Resources:

Agencies, Associations, and Non-Governmental Organizations

Listed below is a selected list of websites of organizations and other entities with collections or research guides on Human Rights, which contain specific information about Children: