LAW728 Private International Law (Prof. Strong, Spring 2024)

Foreign law is the law of a non-U.S. jurisdiction as it is applied in that jurisdiction, and in other jurisdictions (including in U.S. and international courts) under choice of law rules.  Comparative law is not a separate body of rules and principles, but is a method of the comparative study of two or more different legal systems.  Some sources also refer to the law of other countries as international law, global law, or world law.

Research in foreign or comparative law usually involves searching for the primary materials of other countries: constitutions, statutes, codes, regulations, and court judgments or opinions.  Research can also involve searching for translations of primary materials, and use of secondary sources, either legal publications of other countries, or U.S. publications on the law of other countries. Comparative law sources include treatises and other secondary sources on methods of comparing legal systems.

Foreign Law Guide (subscription database):  The Foreign Law Guide has entries for most countries of the world, with descriptions of their legal systems and history and references to primary sources, topical sources, and English translations. The Subject Headings for each country cite statutes and publications on subject areas of the law. Subject areas include Conflict of Laws & Private International Law, as well as Arbitration & Mediation; Bankruptcy & Insolvency; Contracts; Courts & Legal System; Foreign Investments; Labor; Obligations & Torts; and Trusts. 

Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World: Law Library of Congress): The guide for each country is arranged by branches of government and includes links to legislatures, gazettes, codes, courts, and ministries, as well as to legal research guides and background information sources for each country.

Global Legal Monitor (Law Library of Congress): The Global Legal Monitor has both jurisdictional and topical headings to browse.  Articles on legal developments are in English and include citations and links to primary documents, or to perma.cc documents.

Global-Regulation: Searchable portal database of regulations in the US and foreign jurisdictions, including the European Union. Searches index terms and links to regulations on government sites, sometimes with an English translation. Search by topic, then filter by jurisdictions.

NYU GlobaLex: Research guides on international law include International Dispute Settlement and International Commercial Law, as well as foreign law guides by jurisdiction.

See the Emory Law Library Guide on Foreign and Comparative Law Basics for more sources.

United Kingdom/England & Wales:

Statutes:

• Legislation.gov.uk: UK Public General Acts beginning 1802 if still in force. Official, free sources with PDFs. Find legislation as enacted or as revised, with Explanatory Notes. 
• BAILII: Free source to browse or search.
• Parliament.uk. Bills before Parliament, use as well to find recently passed legislation.
• Westlaw: UK Legislation, with statutes, statutory instruments, with analysis for secondary sources and cases.
• Lexis: UK Parliament Acts and statutory instruments.
• ICLR.4: Search legislation as revised or original, with PDFs from legislation.gov.uk.
• vLexJustis: Statutes with original versions and as amended, secondary legislation, a citator, and secondary sources.

Caselaw:

• UK Supreme Court: Cases since 2009. Final court of appeal with cases of public or constitutional importance.
• BAILII: Transcripts and leading cases. Search or find by case citation.
• Lexis: All England Law Reports and All England Reporter, plus specialized reporters.
• Westlaw: Multiple specialized reporters. Find cases by subject or search All UK Cases.
• vLex Justis: All courts for the UK, England & Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Includes a citator.
• ICLR.4: Search full-text or by catchword, or browse new cases by topic. Includes PDFS of the official The Law Reports and other reporters. Includes headnotes, annotations, legislation considered.

Canada:

Statutes:

• Canada Gazette: Free government site, with all parts of the Gazette in PDF.
• CanLII: Search for legislation, find Consolidated Statutes and Regulations. Acts with previous versions, regulations, amendments, and cited by cases. Includes commentary from secondary sources.
• Justice Laws website: Consolidated acts and regulations, with an advanced search and an alphabetical list of Consolidated Acts.
• LEGISInfo: Bills, including Legislation at a Glance to find passed and defeated bills this session.
• Westlaw: Federal legislation as Consolidated Acts, alphabetical list of laws in force, and provincial legislation.
• Lexis: Federal and provincial legislation

Caselaw:

• Supreme Court of Canada: Find recent and pending judgments as official PDFs.
• CanLII: Browse cases by court or search full-text.
• Westlaw: Canadian federal and provincial courts, with filters by topic, keycite, secondary sources.
• Lexis: Canadian federal and proincial courts and administrative tribunals.
• vLexJustis: Canadian Supreme Court, Federal Court of Appeals, Federal Court, and provincial courts. 

Germany (in English translation):

• Gesetze im Internet: Translations of German codes and statutes
• Federal Constitutional Court: Select decisions in English translation

Business and Commercial Law

• Digest of Commercial Laws of the World (K 1005.4 .D54): Commentary and forms on business and commercial treaties and on laws by country, including banking, bankruptcy, antitrust, foreign judgments, and e-commerce.
• Lexology Panoramic (formerly Getting the Deal Through) Q&A Reports by jurisdiction and practice area on issues in Commercial, Dispute Resolution, IP, Tax, and other subjects, with summaries of the law and citations to laws, regulations, and cases, and a jurisdiction comparison feature.
• Practical Law Global on Westlaw): The International section includes resources for select countries, including topical information in Arbitration, Commercial, Competition, Employment, Financial Regulation, Litigation, and Insolvency. Resources include Practice Notes, Country Q&A guides, Legal Updates, and Articles.
• ICLG Legal Guides: Guides with chapters by country include Private Client, Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, International Arbitration, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, and Restructuring & Insolvency. Subscription resources, but some chapters have free access. 
• Global Legal Insights Guides by practice area and jurisdiction chapters. Guides include Enforcement of Judgments and Awards, International Arbitration, Interim Relief, and Mediation and ADR. Subscription resources with free access to jurisdiction chapters.
• Doing Business In guides (Lexis): Matthew Bender and Lex Mundi  guides to doing business in select jurisdictions. Find them in International Secondary Materials by jurisdiction.
• Doing Business In guides (Baker & McKenzie): Guides to doing business in select jurisdictions, with information on foreign investment, competition, company law, tax, labor, and intellectual property. Search "Insight" publications for "Doing Business In" and jurisdiction.

Family Law

• International Survey of Family Law:  (Hein Online): Annual publication with articles on family law issues in other countries.

Intellectual Property

• WIPO Lex: National laws and treaties related to intellectual property, including constitutions, civil codes, commercial codes, penal codes, and obligations laws.  Some laws available in English translation, others in the official languages.
• Trademarks Throughout the World (Westlaw): Treatise arranged by jurisdiction, with information on trademark law.
• Patents Throughout the World (Westlaw): Treatise arranged by jurisdiction, summarizes the patent laws of each country and lists the conditions for obtaining a patent.

Labor Law

• ILO NATLEX: National legislation on labor and employment law by subject, with citations and some links.  The ILO EPLEX database covers employment discrimination, with English language summaries for select countries.

Privacy and Data Security

• Information Security & Privacy: A Guide to International Law & Compliance.  (Westlaw). Entries by country with summaries and citations of privacy laws.

Tax Law

• Deloitte International Tax Source: Tax rates, information, and highlights for foreign jurisdictions, including tax treaty partners.
• Bloomberg Law: International Tax databases including country portfolios, country guides, treaty finder, and the Daily Tax Report: International.

Most countries have a written constitution or organic laws to outline the form of government of the nation and to define the functions and powers of the organs of government. There are several resources which provide not only the original text of the constitutions, but also English translations.

• Hein Online's World Constitutions Illustrated (subscription database): Current and previous constitutions, in official languages and English translations. The World Constitutions Library includes constitutional histories and commentaries in treatises, law review articles (in the Hein Online Law Journals Library), and country studies.
• Oxford Constitutions of the World (Subscription database): Full-text English translations of constitutions, with notes on amendments and other background information.  The Oxford database also includes a bibliography of resources on the country’s constitutional law and historical documents.
• Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law (Subscription database): Articles with citations and links on constitutional law topics, comparing the constitutions of multiple countries
• Constitute Constitutions Project: A free resource for making world constitutions available and searchable.  Constitutions are available in English translation. Articles of constitutions are tagged by topic so they can be browsed or searched.  A comparison feature allows comparison of provisions on topics in two different countries.
• Additionally, official versions of constitutions may be published the country’s Official Gazette or code.

Foreign Law - Primary Sources

Foreign Law - Countries and Regions

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