Research Guides: Foreign Law Research: Primary Sources

Sources of Primary Law

These are multijurisdictional websites and databases that either link to electronic official (and unofficial) sources of primary law and/or tell you where to find them in print.

Foreign Law Guide:Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World [NetID required]
A subscription database that provides background on the legal systems of many different jurisdictions and their official publications of primary law. Includes official and unofficial sources and English translations when available.
HeinOnline's Foreign and International Law Resources Database [NetID required]
Go to the Foreign & International Law Library. Among other things, contains primary law for various countries in English translation.
HeinOnline's World Constitutions Illustrated [NetID required]
Look for World Constitutions Illustrated. Each constitution can be found separately in UCONN Law Library's online catalog.
Law Library of Congress - Guide to Law Online - Nations of the World
Provides an alphabetical listing of nations with links to official and reliable websites that provide access to the Constitution, Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branch materials (often in English translation) as well as to legal guides and other sources.
LLMC Digital [NetID required]
Use Search by Collection and click on Non-U.S. jurisdictions to see list of countries and materials available for each. Materials are in pdf format.

N-Lex : A Common Gateway to National Law
The European Union's portal to the national law of EU Member States (in progress). Includes also non-EU states such as Malta.

World Legal Information Institute (WII)
Free access to primary and secondary legal materials for a wide-range of countries.

Foreign Gazettes

Looking for legal gazettes for foreign countries? Lyonnette Louis-Jacques of U. of Chicago law school library recomments these sites:

· Institutions with Strong Collections: Center for Research Libraries (CRL), LA Law Library, Library of Congress, Harvard Law Library, U Mich Law Library, National Archives, England Wales/UK, U Iowa Law Library (Germany, Mexico), British Library (centralized UK collection of foreign official gazettes, including IALS’), Cujas Library (Pantheon Sorbonne University - France, francophone Africa), L’Institut suisse de droit comparé

Foreign Official Gazette (FOG) Database (CRL union list of print holdings)
FLARE Union List of Foreign Official Gazettes (2013)
Government Gazettes Online (U of Michigan) (see CRL/LLMC Digital project (to digitize foreign official gazettes))
European Forum of Official Gazettes:

Foreign Law Research

Sources of Primary Law

Foreign Gazettes

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