Princeton University Library

Articles and Databases

International, Foreign and Comparative Law

Core Resources

Bibliography of sources of foreign law organized by country. Each entry contains a brief description of the country's legal system with citations to primary sources of law both in print and electronic versions when available. At the end of each entry is a list of subject headings with citations to the relevant laws or statutes.
Database published by Oceana includes the full-text (and where available, PDF versions) of U.S. treaties since 1778. It is searchable full-text, by subject, by country and other options, and also includes an extensive collection of tax treaties, including non-U.S. tax treaties.
Index and full text database for some 50,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties and subsequent treaty actions in their authentic language(s), along with a translation into English and French.
Full text access to over 700 law reviews, most back to the first volume. Most recent issues are often not included.
Index of articles from approximately 850 law journals and selected books with some full-text
Index of articles from selected foreign law periodicals and US law reviews focused on international law
Full-text searchable versions of almost all official and unofficial publications of U.S. treaties and treaty indexes, including U.S.T., T.I.A.S., KAV, Treaties in Force, Bevans Miller, Malloy and International Legal Materials.

Important Resources

Comprehensive commercial index to United Nations parliamentary & working documents, monographic publications, & serial titles.
Provides over 100 interactive lessons written by law faculty and law librarians. The lessons cover a great variety of legal topics in both substantive law and legal research, including Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Treaty Research, and many more. Please note that although this database is specifically intended for use by law students, it will still be helpful to members of the Princeton University community seeking legal information.
Searchable free database of Chinese laws and legal commentaries, in Chinese and English.
English translations of the constitutions of territories and dependencies and relevant federal constitutional provisions that define the relationship between the state and dependencies and territories.
Electronic version of a multi-volume collection of the constitutions of nearly all countries in the world with authoritative (although not official) English translations. Published by Oceana, it is one of the most comprehensive collections of its type and includes some historical content
Search or browse all 176 volumes of the English Reports, Full Reprint along with its "Index of Cases" and "Index Chart." This collection encompasses the decisions of the English Courts prior to the commencement of the Law Reports in 1865.
Search or browse reports, working papers and journals of the European Center for Minority Issues.
IA Reporter    
Electronic news service tracking cross-border arbitrations between foreign investors and their host governments. Covers lawsuits and policy developments related to nationalizations, privatizations, and other regulatory disputes.
Collection of laws, regulations, case law, and secondary source materials for countries in the Americas, primarily in Spanish or Portuguese but with increasing numbers of materials translated into English. Updated daily and arranged in over 25 topical areas related to trade and investment.
Regularly updated repository of domestic cases addressing international law from over 65 jurisdictions. Contains full texts of judgments in their original language and translations of key passages of non-English judgments into English.
Note: Princeton subscribes only to the regions mentioned in the description.
Full-text economic, financial, news, and legal information covering Central & Eastern Europe, Central Asia & the Caucasus, and Southeast Europe.
Israel Law Reports (Hein Online)  (1948-current)  
English translations of selected decisions of the Supreme Court of Israel. Formerly titled Selected Judgments of the Supreme Court of Israel.
Provides searchable full-text access to UK Statutes back to 1235, Statutory Instruments back to 1671, Local Acts back to 1797, and a collection of Private Acts back to 1539. Some material is provided in PDF format.
Chinese laws, regulations and cases in Chinese (Chinalawinfo) and English/Chinese (Lawinfochina). One concurrent user only.
Digital library of works from the 19th and early 20th centuries on British Commonwealth and American law. Includes treatises, casebooks, local practice manuals, books on legal form, works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters, and speeches.
Comprehensive database of legal materials, including cases, statutes, and regulations of the U.S. government and the various state governments; case law from 1789 to present; current and historical statutes and regulations from 1980 forward. Provides full text of many major global, national, and regional newspapers. For comparisons between Lexis-Nexis Academic and Factiva see http://firestone.princeton.edu/econlib/universe.html.
Lexis-Nexis Commercial    
Access: Firestone Library, Social Science Reference Center, A Floor. Password required; see reference librarian, who will log you on.
Note: Restricted to academic research by Princeton University faculty and students.
Comprehensive database of legal materials, both primary and secondary sources, from the United States and selected foreign countries and international organizations.
Searchable digital archive of trial transcripts, and popular and scholarly accounts of both famous and non-famous historic trials.
Digital library of works from the 19th and early 20th centuries on British Commonwealth and American law. Includes treatises, casebooks, local practice manuals, books on legal form, works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters, and speeches.
Provides over 2,500 entries covering all aspects of international law. Entries include references for further research including cases, treaties, journal articles, and websites.
SCC Online    
Note: Must register for an account before first use.
Extensive searchable database of Indian case law and statute law. Contains some secondary source material and some pre-statehood material as well.
Contains full-text access to over 600,000 Israeli cases and laws, and articles from Israel's leading business finance newspaper -Globes (all in Hebrew). Also provides English access to a limited selection of case law, mostly from Israel's Supreme Court.
Westlaw (commercial version)    
Access: Firestone Library, Social Science Reference Center, A Floor. Password required; see reference librarian, who will log you on.
Note: Restricted to academic research by Princeton University faculty and students.
Comprehensive database of legal materials, both primary and secondary sources, from the United States and selected foreign countries and international organizations.

Related Resources

Partially searchable digital images of books, primarily British, printed in the eighteenth century. Based on the Eighteenth-Century Short-Title Catalogue.
Digital edition of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers of the 19th and 20th centuries, with searchable full text and subject indexing. The Parliamentary Papers are an essential primary source for 19th- and 20th-century Britain, its colonies, and the wider world. They are the working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic, and foreign policy. .
Indlaw.com  (1790+)  
India's largest legal, tax and regulatory resource base.
Nineteenth Century Masterfile  (Nineteenth Century+)  
Combines various general, scientific, religious, psychological, and legal indexes covering the nineteenth century.
NORMLEX  (1926+)  
Brings together information on International Labour Standards (such as ratification information, reporting requirements, comments of the ILO's supervisory bodies, etc.) as well as national labor and social security laws.
Fully searchable online edition of the periodical Proceedings of the Old Bailey, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
Access: Click on the blue SA ePublications link on the right-hand side of the page.
Provides access to selected full text South African journals in the social sciences, humanities and law.

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Last updated: September 14, 2012