Canadian Legal Research Manual

International and Foreign Legal Research 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.

Providing a basic introduction to international legal research for the nonspecialist, Hoffman and Berring’s International Legal Research in a Nutshell offers guidance through the unfamiliar pathways of research using international legal materials and demystifies the world of treaties. Because it is aimed at the nonspecialist, the text provides straightforward background information on the United Nations and the European Union and includes guidance using the documents and legal materials of these institutions.

This unique book examines the role non-doctrinal research methods play in international legal research: what do they add to the traditional doctrinal analysis of law and what do they neglect? Focusing on empirical and socio-legal methods, it provides a critical evaluation of the breadth, scope and limits of the representation of international law created by these often-neglected methodologies.

This timely Handbook contains a wide-ranging overview of the diverse research methods used within international law. Providing an insightful examination of how international legal knowledge is analysed and adopted, this Handbook offers the reader a deeper understanding on the role and place of research methods in international legal theory, reasoning and practice.