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The Library: Law

Referencing international law

OSCOLA 2006: citing international law section: the 4th edn of OSCOLA does not cover International Law, so use this guide instead.

International law databases

Free international law resources

  • Eagle-i Search is from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) and helps legal researchers find authoritative material. You can filter by intergovernmental or non-governmental organisation, and by country or primary jurisdiction. 
  • International Criminal Court (ICC) Legal Tools the ICC Legal Tools project website provides free and immediate access to a wealth of information on international criminal law and justice. The project holds the potential to be the leading information provider in the area of international criminal law.
  • International Law Guides and Jurisdiction Guides from the IALS provide detailed information about organisations such as the Council of Europe and the UN, as well as information about the legal system in over 30 jurisdictions, with links to resources for finding legal material.

Australia

Canada

European Union

  • Council of Europe is the continent's leading human rights organisation - the website includes all publications and newsletters.
  • EU Bookshop gives access to publications, in hard copy and electronic format, published by the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU.
  • EuroAbstracts is published six times a year in English by the Innovation and SMEs programme, part of the European Commission's Sixth Research Framework Programme. Encourages the dissemination of research publications across Europe. Each edition features book reviews, ordered by theme, as well as a major topic and interview.
  • European Parliament is useful for finding debates and reports of the European Parliament.
  • Eurostat Electronic Library is the Statistical Office of the European Communities – Eurostat Yearbooks provide a wealth of information on life in the European regions of the 27 EU member states. Find Eurostat regional yearbooks and other publications here.

South Africa

  • Wits Law School the School of Law from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, SA. Provides information about the Constitutional Court of SA (including an archive of all decisions of the court) and South African legal materials and links.

USA

  • FindLaw offers various features for the lawyer and non-lawyer (does have an American bias). FindLaw index is quite extensive, visitors can search FindLaw as well as search the full text of law reviews online.
  • Google Scholar click on the "Case law" radio button. This enables you to find state and federal cases, including:
    • US Supreme Court Opinions
    • US Federal District, Appellate, Tax, and Bankruptcy Court Opinions
    • US State Appellate and Supreme Court Opinions
    • Scholarly articles, papers, and reports
    • Patents: US Patents; European Patent Office and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Patents
  • US Supreme Court Decisions

Finding Treaties

Finding UN Documents

United Nations Digital Library is best for searching by subject. Includes UN documents, voting data, speeches and maps.
 
ODS Search is best for searching by document symbol (e.g. S/2010/240). It includes Official Documents of the UN, beginning in 1993. Older UN documents are added to the system on a daily basis.