Resources for U.S. and International Law

Encyclopedias

United States

• Ref KF4527 .U54 2004 The Constitution of the United Sates of America Analysis and Interpretation - provides detailed and in-depth discussion of Constitutional issues, illustrated and in relation to key Supreme Court cases. Online = http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CDOC-108sdoc17/pdf/CDOC-108sdoc17.pdf . 2010 Supplement = http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2010/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2010.pdf
• Ref KF4933 .Z9 D38 2007 Legislative Law and Process in a Nutshell
• Ref KF245 .U55 2005 The Bluebook: a Uniform System of Citation - citation guide for legal resources/documents. A quick guide to Bluebook citations is available from Newsbank.
• Ref KF4550 .T869 2009 The Constitution of the United States of America : a contextual analysis
• Ref KF8742 .A35 O93 2005 The Oxford companion to the Supreme Court of the United States -. Also online
• Ref KF154 .W47 2005 West's encyclopedia of American law
• Ref KF4548 .E53 2000 Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
• Ref KF4557 .C66 1999 The Constitution and its Amendments
• Ref KF154 .O96 2002 The Oxford companion to American law Also online.
• Ref KF4502 .F68 1987 The Founder's Constitution
• Ref KF220 .J64 2011 Trials of the Century: an Encyclopedia of Popular Culture and the Law
• Ref KF156 .B53 2009 Black's Law Dictionary
• Ref KF352 .C36 2008 A Cambridge History of Law in America

International

• Concise Encyclopedia of the United Nations - Ref KZ4968 .L4913 2010
• Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law - Ref K48 .E42 2006
• Encyclopedia of Law & Society: American and Global Perspectives - Ref  K583 .E53 2007
• Encyclopedia of the European Union
• Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements - Ref  KZ4968 .O84 2002
• Handbook of International Law - Ref  KZ1250 .R68 2009
• Historical Dictionary of the European Union - Ref  JN15 .R75 2006
• International Law. A Dictionary - Ref  KZ1161 .B63 2005
• Legal Systems of the World - Ref  K48 .L44 2002
• Routledge Handbook of International Law - Ref KZ1250 .R68 2009
• Texts and Materials on International Human Rights - Ref K3240 .S57 2010

Research Guides

United States

• Legal Information Institute - Cornell University
• Library of Congress Guide to Law
• How are Laws are Made - From the Library of Congress
• LLSDC's Legislative Source Book - Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C.'s comprehensive guide.

International

• ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources in International Law - Research guides from the American Association of International Law (ASIL). A good place to start research. Provides context for areas of international laws with links to legal documents, relevant websites, free databases (and some fee based), bibliographies and more.
  • Human Rights 
  • International Commercial Arbitration 
  • International Criminal Law 
  • International Economic Law 
  • International Environmental Law 
  • International Intellectual Property Law 
  • International Organizations
  • Private International Law 
  • Treaties 
  • United Nations
  • These guides are supplemented by the Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL), "a free online database that organizes and provides links to, and useful information on, web resources from the full spectrum of international law."
• Law Library Resources Xchang (LLRX) - Comparative and Foreign Law.
  • Articles/Guides on specific countries.
  • Guides on specific topics.
• Law School Guides for foreign, international and comparative law- provide context and useful links.  
  • New York University GlobaLex -advanced guides to specific topics in foreign/international/comparative law research 
  • Brooklyn Law School Library- Introduction to International Law Research 
  • Foreign & International Law Resources: An Annotated Guide to Web Sites Around the World - Harvard Law School Library
  • Legal Research on International Law Issues Using the Internet - University of Chicago

• Public International Law - University of Western Australia. Comprehensive resources, broken down by topics.
• Legal Information Institute - Cornell UniversityGlobal - international resources.

Databases and pathways

• World Criminal Justice Library Electronic Network - From Rutgers School of Criminal Justice Library
• Law Library of Congress - Access the various Law Library of Congress' databases and guides.
  • GLIN - Global Legal Information Network - database of legal documents
  • Multinational Collections Database 
  • GLM Global Legal Monitor - current legal news events.

• World Legal Information Institute - 873 databases from 123 countries and territories.
• Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL), "a free online database that organizes and provides links to, and useful information on, web resources from the full spectrum of international law."
• Intute: Social Sciences: Law- Directory created by a consortium of colleges and universities in the UK. Very comprehensive. Breaks down law into many subtopics. Links to and rates hundreds of legal websites.

Country resources

• Jurist, World Law - University of Pittsburgh
• Nations of the World - Law Library of Congress. All sorts of legal, governmental and other resources.
• Constitution Finder - University of Richmond
• World Legal Systems - University of Ottawa - identifies legal systems by type and by country.
• Global Courts - Supreme Court decisions from around the world; access to decisions in 129 countries, or a way of finding them.
• FindLaw: Countries 
• The Europa World Yearbook - Ref Counter JN1 .E85

Treaties/Conventions

• U.S. Department of State
  • Treaties in Force
  • Treaty Actions
• Thomas/Treaties from the Library of Congress. The U.S. Senate ratifies treaties. Search across or by Congress (starting with the 90th, 1967) and by topic.
• NAFTA - Canada, Mexico and the United States
• Council of Europe Treaties 
• European Union - Treaties at a Glance
• WIPO Administered Treaties 
• United Nations Human Rights Treaty Database 
• Tufts University Multilaterial Projects provides access to "texts of international multilateral conventions and other instruments." Most of the texts date from 1945 or later, but the collection also includes historical texts."Topics covered:
  Atmosphere and Space/Flora and Fauna - Biodiversity/Diplomatic Relations/General Human Rights/Marine and Coastal/Other Environmental Trade and Commercial Relations/Rules of Warfare, Arms Control/Miscellaneous Historical Documents/Arms/Security/Country Resources/Environment, Biodiversity and Climate/Human Rights/Humanitarianism/Native Americans/Oceans/Private International Law/Status Information /Trade and Commercial Relations/Treaty and Convention Sources 
• Multinational Collections Database - Law Library of Congress
• EISIL Treaty Collections
  • National and Regional 
  • Organizations and Secretariat 
• UN Treaty Reference Guide 

United States/International Cases

United states

• LexisNexis Academic (linked from Electronic Resources by Title) - Supreme Court briefs; superior cases by state; Federal/state regulations/statutes/codes; landmark cases,law reviews, legal reference.
• Supreme Court Decisions - from 1937 to 1975 via FDsys
• U.S. Court Opinions- 2004 to the present.
• Official site of the U.S. Supreme Court
• ProQuest Congressional - (linked from Electronic Resources by Title)
• New Jersey law
  • Atlantic Reporter - 1885-2004
  • NJ Reports 1985 onward

International

• European Court of Human Rights - home page
• European Court of Human Rights HUDOC - free online access to the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, the European Commission of Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers. Type in the name of the plaintiff (first name that appears: smith v. adams) in the "Case Title" box and click search.
• International Court of Justice - Cases - "List of All Cases" is comprehensive.
  • International Court of Justice Reports 
• Permanent Court of International Justice 
• Reports of International Arbitral Awards (RIAA) - search tip: don't know which volume to search? try searching "By State parties to a dispute" instead.
• International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
• European Court of Justice - search cases - search by "Names of parties:"
• EUR-Lex for European Union legislation and case law - registration is required, but access is free.
• High Court of Australia Judgements  includes international cases
• Canada
  • Supreme Court – Decisions
  • Human Rights Tribunal 
  • International Trade Tribunal 
  • Federal Courts (case search)    --   Main Page 
• Hong Kong – Courts – Basic Law Decisions 
• United Kingdom
  • Courts 
            Department for Constitutional Affairs
            House of Lords 
            Northern Ireland 
• Vatican (Holy See) -  The Roman Curia 

Also try:

• World Legal Information Institute - 873 databases from 123 countries and territories.
• FindLaw: Countries - Excellent source for finding case law by country.
• GLIN (Global Legal Information Network) search page - "The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) is a public database of official texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations."
• Global Courts - Supreme Court decisions in 129 countries, or a way of finding them (some sites are fee based).
• Nations of the World - Law Library of Congress. All sorts of legal, governmental and other resources.
• International Law Materials, from American Society of International Law

International Organizations

• Institute of Advanced Legal Studies - IALS Eagle-i links - comprehensive coverage for the following organizations.
  • Council of Europe
  • European Court of Human Rights
    • European Court of Human Rights HUDOC - free online access to the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, the European
  • European Free Trade Association
  • European Union. See also:
    • EUR-Lex for Eurpean Union legislation and case law and European Court of Justice - search page for cases 
    • Europa for general information about the European Union
  • G8 Summit of Industrialised Nations
  • International Court of Justice
  • International Labour Organisation
  • United Nations
  • World Bank
  • World Intellectual Property Organisation
  • World Trade Organisation
• Union of International Associations 
• Court of Justice of the European Communities
• International Court of Justice
  • Cases 
• Organization of American States 
• Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation
• Center for International Security and Cooperation 
• Inter-American Development Bank 
• International Law Commission (UN)
  • Documents - including Yearbooks, Annual Reports, Analytical Guides and more.
• International Organization for Migration 
• Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons 
• Universal Postal Union 

Special legal topics

• Collection of National Copyright Laws: UNESCO
• WIPO Lex- a unique electronic database providing easy access to intellectual property legislation from a wide range of countries and regions as well as to treaties on intellectual property (from WIPO).
• International Digest of Health Legislation: WHO
• NATLEX, "the database of national labour, social security and related human rights legislation maintained by the ILO's International Labour Standards Department. "
• National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade
• ECOLEX - A Gateway to Environmental Law 
• University of Minnesota Human Rights Library 

Drew subscription databases

Databases listed below can be accessed from: http://www.drew.edu/library/research/electronic-resources-by-title

• LexisNexis Academic > Legal - law reviews, treaties, court cases and more.
• Proquest Criminal Justice
• Academic Search Premier
• Columbia International Affairs Online - public policy and think tank papers.
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts - scholarly articles. International scope.
• ProQuest Political Science - scholarly articles. International scope.
• ProQuest Congressional - U.S. legislation. Provides some legislative histories. See also THOMAS, from the Library of Congress
• PAIS International - Indexes international political science research.

Related links

• Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations - "Legal abbreviations can be a puzzle to both new students and experienced professionals. This web-based service allows you to search for the meaning of abbreviations for English language legal publications, from the British Isles, the Commonwealth and the United States, including those covering international and comparative law."
• U.S. Embassies and Missions worldwide listed in FindLaw: International Resources 
• Foreign Law Translations - French, Germany, Italian, Austrian and Israeli legal materials translated into English.
• Primer on the Civil-Law System 
• Drew Semester on the United Nations
• Website of National Parliaments
• Contact a librarian: Beth Patterson epatters@drew.edu ext. 3480. Reference Department, Drew Library.