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LAW 690B - Human Rights Advocacy (Prof. Ludsin, Spring 2024)

Law of Other Countries Related to Human Rights

Foreign Law Guide (subscription database): Entries by jurisdiction include legal history and descriptions of the country’s government and legal institutions, as well as sources for legal research. Find statutes listed by subject with citations, sometimes with links or with English translation sources. Subject headings include Citizenship, Emigration, Immigration & Nationality; Constitution & Politics; Crime & Punishment; Family; Indigenous Peoples; and Labor.

Bluebook Rules 20 and 21 and T2 are on citations to foreign and international law. The T2 tables on foreign jurisdictions are available free on the Electronic Bluebook. Entries for each country include links to internet sources for official legal publications.

Law Library of Congress Guide to Law Online: 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. (New site, so the country list is still in progress.)

vLex: Primary resources, including Official Gazettes and jurisprudence, for countries in Latin America and Europe. Includes secondary sources such as law journals and newspapers for some countries. Includes a machine translation feature. Set up an individual account, and go to All Jurisdictions to find the global resources.

Legislationline (OSCE - Office for Security and Co-operation in Europe): International norms and standards on human rights. Constitutions, criminal codes, and legislation by country on human rights topics and legislative process. Includes international standards (UN, Council of Europe, EU, OSCE, ODIHR) on human rights.

UN Office on Drugs and Crime: UNODC conventions and reports on corruption, criminal justice, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and organized crime. See the SHERLOC database for caselaw, legislation, and bibliographies related to organized crime. 

NATLEX: International Labour Organization Database of labor, employment, social security, and human rights laws

 FAOLEX (UN Food and Agriculture Organization): Laws and regulations on food and agriculture, including laws on environmental protection, water use, land use, and waste management.

Land Portal: Open access resources on land use and property rights, including datasets, reports and journals, and legislation. Search or find by country, issue, or source.

WIPO Lex: National laws and treaties on intellectual property, with related information.  Includes laws on traditional knowledge and cultural expression.

International Family Law Practice: Treatise on Westlaw

EIU Portal: Economist Intelligence Unit. Country reports and data on political and economic status and forecasts.

Law of Other Countries: Commercial Subject Reports

Databases of reports for commercial areas of the law may also have relevant reports in areas of the law such as data privacy, labor and employment law, environmental regulation, and immigration. These databases, written by practicing attorneys in specialized firms, include citations to laws, summaries and analysis of topical law and policy, and discussion of developments and trends.

  • Panoramic (formerly Getting the Deal Through): Q&A Reports by jurisdiction and practice area, 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. Resources include Practice Notes, Country Q&A guides, Legal Updates, and Articles.
  • ICLG Legal Guides: Guides with chapters by country. Subscription resources, but some chapters have free access. 
  • Global Legal Insights Guides by practice area and jurisdiction chapters. Subscription resources with free access to jurisdiction chapters.
  • Data Protection Laws of the World: From DLA Piper. Compare data protection laws around the world, including topics like online privacy, security, and breach notification.

Comparative National Constitutions

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: Translated current and historical national constitutions, with introductory notes and bibliographies.

Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law: Articles on topics in constitutional law, with country comparisons, bibliographies, and case citations.

Constitute Constitutions Project: A free resource for making world constitutions available, comparable, and searchable.  Constitutions are available in English translation. Articles of constitutions are tagged by topic so they can be browsed or searched.  Topics include amendment procedure, election rules, civil and political rights, and enforcement.

CODICES:  Database of Constitutional caselaw of the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe. Includes constitutions, laws, and court decisions. There’s an alphabetical index and a search function.

PILPG (Public Interest Law & Policy Group): Toolkits and Handbooks, including the Post-Conflict Constitution Drafter's Handbook.

India

Supreme Court of India: Database of judgments, including by Act or "free text" searching

SUPLIS: Database of Supreme Court caselaw from the Supreme Court Judges Library, including a subject search

SUPLIB: Database of Indian and other legal journal articles from the Supreme Court Judges Library, including by subject, journal, and title. Citations only.

LEGIS: Database of national acts from the Supreme Court Judges Library, . Citations and other information with links to the India Code Digital Repository. 

India Code Digital Repository: Searchable database of consolidated central and state acts

Legal Information Institute of India: Database of Indian caselaw and statutes, including state

Indian Kanoon: Free database of Indian court judgments and tribunals, including state. 

Lex Mundi's Guide to Doing Business in India (Lexis)

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