LibGuides: Finding Foreign and International Sources: Additional Resources

Foreign, Comparative & International Law (FCIL) Resources

The following list of resources includes both free and subscription-based websites and databases to assist you with finding foreign, comparative, and international law materials. Please note that some of the free resources have not been updated in a few years (e.g., ASIL Electronic Resource Guides and EISIL), but still provide useful content and guidance.

American Society of International Law (ASIL)
The nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational membership organization dedicated to international law founded in 1906 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1950. ASIL holds Category II Consultative Status to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies. ASIL is headquartered in Washington, DC. ASIL’s Electronic Research Guides provide excellent introductions to various public international law topics.
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
Provides the meaning of abbreviations for English language legal publications from the British Isles, the Commonwealth, and the United States, as well as for a wide selection of major foreign language law publications from over 295 jurisdictions.
Foreign Law Guide
Provides information on current sources of codes, compilations of legislation, official gazettes, and case reporters from jurisdictions around the world, in addition to the existence of English translations and selected references to secondary sources.
GlobaLex
Contains research guides for specific countries as well as on international law topics.
HeinOnline
Contains numerous foreign, international, and comparative law libraries, including English Reports (1120-1867); Foreign & International Law Resources Database; Foreign Relations of the U.S.; Hague Academy Collected Courses, Harvard Research in International Law; Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals; Israel Law Reports; Kluwer Law International Journal Library; Treaties and Agreements Library; United Nations Law Collection; and World Constitutions Illustrated.
ICLR
ICLR includes case reports from England and Wales, along with U.K. legislation. Date coverage varies by publication, with some sources dating back to 1865.
Investor State Law Guide
Contains dispute settlement materials involving international investment treaty law, including bilateral investment treaties.
JuriGlobe
Research resources and tools relating to the different legal systems in the world.
Kluwer Arbitration
Comprehensive database of international commercial arbitration materials, including treatises, journals, arbitral awards, legislation, and current awareness.
LLRX - Comparative/Foreign Law
Free, comparative and foreign legal research resources and tools.
LLRX - International Legal Research
Free, international legal research resources and tools.
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law (MPECCoL)
Coverage of constitutional law topics in a comparative context. The encyclopedia articles cover the basis and foundations of state formation and constitutional law, as well as analyzing and explaining underlying legal concepts such as human rights, constitutional formation, scope of state protections, the defining structures of governmental makeup, types of legal structures and interactions within a constitutional law system, and legal constitutional concepts that make up constitutional law. In addition, articles provide insight and detail into key cases that have contributed to or defined constitutional law concepts on a global scale such as Brown v Board of Education (United States), the Mizrahi Bank Case (Israel), the Minerva Mills Case (India), and Marbury v Madison (United States), and discuss key instruments in constitutional law history such as the Magna Carta and the Charter of Medina, among others. The database also includes access to the Oxford Law Citator, which is useful for advanced legal research and enables easy access to key materials.
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL)
Excellent starting place for research on international law topics. The MPEPIL online edition—edited under the direction of Professor Dr. Rüdiger Wolfrum, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany—is a comprehensive analytical resource covering the whole of public international law. MPEPIL includes material from the hard-copy Encyclopedia of Public International Law published between 1991 and 2001, plus online-only articles authored since 2001. Approximately 1,700 article topics have been selected and authored by expert legal scholars.
TradeLawGuide
Provides comprehensive access to WTO law, including agreements, rules of interpretation, and jurisprudence. Features include a citator, a subject navigator, full text searching, and jurisprudence pending.
World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII)
Access to case law and legislation from hundreds of countries.

Citing Foreign and International Law Materials

The Bluebook provides guidance for citing foreign materials in Rule 20 (Foreign Materials) and Table 2 (Foreign Jurisdictions). T2 contains jurisdiction-specific examples of how to cite cases, constitutions, codes, statutes and regulations, etc. The Bluebook provides guidance for citing international materials in Rule 21 (International Materials) and Tables 3 (Intergovernmental Organizations), 4 (Treaty Sources), and 5 (Arbitral Reporters).

However, you will quickly realize that The Bluebook lacks an abundance of examples for citing foreign and international law sources. Thus, you may need to consult another source beyond The Bluebook for assistance with how to best cite these materials.

The Bluebook, 21st Edition by Harvard Law Review (Compiled by); Columbia Law Review (Compiled by); University of Pennsylvania Law Review (Compiled by); Yale Law Review (Compiled by)
Call Number: KF245. B58 (On reserve - 2-hour loan)
Publication Date: 2020
Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations by New York University School of Law Staff
Call Number: K89 .G85 2009 (Reference & Reference Desk)
Publication Date: 2009

International Citation Manual
Resource from the Washington University Global Law Review covering countries not included in other citation manuals.