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Foreign and Comparative Law Basics

Secondary Sources - Subject Headings

Treatises and Books

Search Emory Library Search (the library online catalog) for books on foreign and comparative law. Use a subject search in Advanced Search with the country you are researching and "law," and any other specific subjects (patent, commercial, domestic relations). The Emory catalog includes records for ebooks, with database links.

Westlaw: International Treatises. Multi-National and by Jurisdiction. Include commercial and business subjects, and general "doing business in" titles.

Lexis: Find titles by country or by practice areas including International Law. 

vLex: Primary resources, including Official Gazettes and jurisprudence, for countries in Latin America and Europe. Includes secondary sources including some treatises and practice guides..

Oxford Scholarship Online: ebooks on law, including works on comparative law.

 

Journals and Law Reviews

Hein Online International & Non-US Law Journals

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (Hein Online): Index to books and law review articles from foreign journals, with links to articles available in Hein Online or through other databases available at Emory. Browse by country or subject, or search by keyword, subject, country subject, or country of publication.

Kluwer Law International Journal Library (on Hein Online): Specialty journals on international subjects including international arbitration, European company law, and world trade.

vLex Global: includes foreign law journals and newspapers (some in English), arranged by country.

Cairn: French law journals. The English language portion of the database includes some English language articles and abstracts. 

Westlaw International Journals: Law journals from other countries, plus multi-national journals

Lexis Plus: Law journals from Australia, Canada, China, India, and the United Kingdom

Journals in fields other than law may have information on the law and government policies of other countries:

  • JSTOR: Some foreign titles plus journals on international relations, political science, and public policy, plus Latin American, European, and Middle East Studies
  • Academic Search Complete: Multi-disciplinary database of full-text scholarly journals
  • discoverE: Search the Combined tab in the catalog to find journal articles in multiple campus databases

Current Awareness

Use news and current awareness sources to track developments in your projects, to find topics for papers and notes, and to make sure that you have the latest cases and statutes for your research. 

Global Legal Monitor (Law Library of Congress): A review of major legal news stories from around the world, to search or to browse by topic and jurisdiction.  Most articles include links to primary sources or to news sites. 

Jurist World Legal News: News stories on foreign courts and legal issues, with links to primary documents and news sites.

Legal news sources by subject area may include legal news developments from other countries:

  • Bloomberg Law News, with subject areas including International Tax, IP, and White Collar Crime
  • Law360 Legal news and analysis, with access to related legal documents.  Includes Law360 UK, Banking, FinTech, International Arbitration, Intellectual Property, and Tax. Also available to search on Lexis. 

Legal blogs with foreign law news:

News sources for foreign and international news:

Comparative Law

Comparative law is a method of comparative study of two or more different legal systems. Treatises on comparative law may compare legal traditions, or the may compare the law of two more different countries in general or for specific subjects. They may include citations to laws, brief summaries, or detailed analysis. For choice of law questions, treatises may direct you to choice of law rules found in conventions and model laws.

Conventions and model laws on choice of law or forum: 

Treatises on Comparative Law: