The Library: Law: EU, International & Foreign 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.

See also page 25 onwards in the University of Lincoln OSCOLA Referencing Handbook.

Journals that regularly feature articles on EU law

Finding Treaties

UN Treaty Collection

Westlaw International This link opens in a new window
Contains International Legal Materials (ASIL, 1962 - ) containing introductory notes to important new multilateral treaties.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Holds ILM from 1962 to pre-current volume. Conduct an advanced search for 'International Legal Materials' as a publication title.

WorldLLI
A free legal information research database covering case law, legislation and other materials from 48 jurisdictions in 20 countries.

The New York University School of Law produces a collection of legal research guides covering foreign and international law.

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.

International law databases

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Key legal history research tool. Includes archive content of more than 2000 law and law-related periodicals.
Lexis+ Legal Research (previously Lexis+ Library) This link opens in a new window
Large legal database containing UK, EU and international case law, legislation (up-to-date, amended versions), legal journals, commentary texts, current awareness, and news.
Westlaw International This link opens in a new window
Westlaw International is a vast global legal research library built on some of the world's best legal, news and business information.
WorldLII This link opens in a new window
Provides a useful way of finding quality, freely accessible sources of law materials relating to individual countries. Over 1800 databases from 123 jurisdictions are included.
- Accessibility information.
Eur-Lex This link opens in a new window
Contains European cases and the Official Journal. Allows you to search for legislation in force for each country and provides summaries of EU Legislation by topic area.
- Visit the Eur-Lex tutorials playlist for support.
- Accessibility information.
Europa This link opens in a new window
The portal site of the European Union, providing up-to-date coverage of EU affairs and essential information on European integration. Users can also consult all legislation currently in force or under discussion, access the websites of each of the EU institutions and find out about the policies administered by the EU under the powers devolved to it by the Treaties.
- Accessibility information.
European Sources Online This link opens in a new window
Provides access to information on the institutions and activities of the European Union, the countries, regions and other international organisations of Europe, and on issues of importance to European researchers, citizens and stakeholders.
- Accessibility information.

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

Australasian Legal Information Institute includes full text of some cases from various Australian courts and Australian legislation.

Canada

Access to Justice Research Network Canadian justice and legal information and services.

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.
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

Your Academic Librarians

Karen Fisher, Catherine Parkin, Maria Simões & Jennie Winterburn

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Subjects: Law