Research Guides: Research Guide for Law Graduate Students: Foreign Law

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Foreign Law

Foreign law refers to the national law (also known as internal or domestic law) of another country. From the viewpoint of Canada, the laws of Japan, the United Kingdom, and Brazil are all "foreign law". A related concept is comparative law, which refers to the academic study of different jurisdictions' legal systems.

The law library at Queen's provides access to certain subscription databases that contain legal materials from foreign jurisdictions. However, much of our access to foreign legal materials comes from free Government and non-government websites.

This section of the guide will help you start your research ino the laws of other countries.

Note: For in-depth guidance on researching law from the UK or the United States, see the chapters on Researching UK Law and Researching American Law within the law library's Legal Research Manual.

On this page:

Foreign & Comparative Law Research Guides

GlobaLex Basic Guide to Researching Foreign Law
This guide describes basic strategies for finding the laws of countries other than the U.S, primarily in English. The emphasis is on codes and laws rather than cases. The guide will also help you find secondary materials that describe other countries' laws. It includes links to websites and to other guides.
GlobaLex Foreign Law Research Guides by Country
A collection of free online guides that explain how to research the domestic laws of over 100 countries. The guides have been prepared by legal scholars well known in their respective fields.
GlobaLex Comparative Law Research Guides
A collection of free online guides that explain how to conduct comparative law research on a variety of legal topics such as family law, criminal procedure, immigration law, and more. The guides have been prepared by legal scholars well known in their respective fields.

International and Foreign Legal Research by Marci Hoffman; Mary Rumsey
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2012
International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook, second edition by Hoffman and Rumsey, now in a second edition, is designed for classes in foreign and international legal research. Topics covered in the book range from treaty research to chapters on particular subjects of international law. Coverage also includes chapters on researching foreign and comparative law as well as major international organizations, including the UN and the EU.
International Legal Research in a Nutshell by Marci Hoffman; Robert Berring
Call Number: KZ1234 .H64 2017 LAW
Publication Date: 2017
This Nutshell provides a basic introduction to international and foreign legal research for the non-specialist. It offers guidance through the unfamiliar pathways of research using international and non-US legal legal materials and demystifies the world of treaties and international case law. Since it's aimed at the non-specialist, it provides straight-forward background information on the United Nations and the European Union and includes guidance using the documents and legal materials of these institutions. There are extensive links to the rich world of Web resources, but it also describes print research tools that remain important in this field. Finally, it sets out a road map for approaching a research problem involving international, foreign and comparative law.
Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations by New York University School of Law Staff
Call Number: K89 .G85 2009
Publication Date: 2009
Created by the Journal of International Law and Politics at New York University, the Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations is the most comprehensive source for international citations rules. Including 45 country citation systems, as well as citation rules for international organizations, tribunals, and treaties.
Comparing Law by Bert Demarsin; Danny Pieters; Uitgeverij Borgerhoff & Lamberigts (Other)
Call Number: K559 .P54 2023
Publication Date: 2023
Comparing Law offers you an introduction to comparative law. What is comparative law? Why do we compare law and, above all, what methodology does the discipline adopt? These and many other questions are discussed in Part 1 on law comparison as methodology and science. Further parts introduce you to the law of some key jurisdictions. A selection of European countries, such as the UK, France and Germany are covered along with Belgium and the Netherlands. Not only global players, such as the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India and Brazil, are highlighted, but the law of Israel, Islamic law and African legal systems are presented as well. Last but not least, comparative law in practice is also illustrated by approaching a number of topics - both of public law and private law - in a comparative way.

Finding Tools for Secondary Sources on Foreign Laws

Law Subject Guides

Many of the law library's guides highlight recent treatises on foreign laws relating to particular subjects such as family law, employment law, or criminal law.

See the full list of law subject guides for further information.

Omni

Find books and other secondary materials on specific foreign jurisdictions by using the Library search tool, Omni.

Using the advanced search function, set the subject field as "Law [country]."
Narrow your results by including a relevant term in the "any" field.

Databases & Indexes

Databases and indexes can help you identify and locate secondary sources about the laws of foreign jurisdictions.

Multinational Sources Compared (HeinOnline): A Subject and Jurisdiction Index designed to direct researchers to sources that compare multiple jurisdictions on focused legal subjects. These print and electronic sources contain full-text legislation, statutory citation, or other references to primary law.
Foreign & International Laws Database (HeinOnline): This database includes in-depth publications of the American Society of International Law and prominent Yearbooks from around the world, including the Hague Permanent Court of International Justice series. Included are the Law Library of Congress Reports, an exclusive collections of more than 3,500 meticulously crafted reports on foreign, comparative, and international law.

Finding Tools for Foreign Case Law & Legislation

This section contains a list of the key databases for locating cases and legislation from countries other than Canada. For a full-list of subscription databases offered by the law library that are related to foreign law, see Legal Resources Online @ Lederman Library: Online Sources by Jurisdiction.

Library of Congress Guides to Law Online: Nations of the World: The United States Library of Congress publishes guides to the laws of nations around the world. Each guide is an annotated collection of links to free online legal materials and pertinent resources in the Library of Congress catalog, organized by jurisdiction.
GlobaLex - GlobaLex is a free electronic legal publication that contains legal research guides for countries around the world. Each guide describes the country's legal system and points to sources of case law and legislation for that country that are freely available online.
WorldLII - The World Legal Information Institute or WorldLII is a free legal information research database covering case law, legislation and other materials from 48 jurisdictions in 20 countries around the world.
Lexis+ - Law students' accounts provide access to the complete Primary Law collection, including case law and legislation, for the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and France. Also included are citators for the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. To access foreign legal materials in Lexis+, change the jurisdiction selector in the search bar on the database homepage.
Westlaw Edge Canada - Law students' Westlaw Edge accounts provide access to a plethora of legal materials from the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand. To access these materials, click on the "International" tab on the Westlaw Edge homepage.