Foreign and Comparative Law: Statutes & Cases

Finding primary foreign law sources can be challenging, and finding translations even more so. The research guides, including the Law Library of Congress,  found in "Where to begin" often point to sources of primary law. Be aware that many legal systems do not rely on case reports to the extent common law jurisdictions do.

Start with the "LIIs" for caselaw and statutes. Many countries have Legal Information Institutes which make caselaw and statutes available on the Internet. They may be accessed through WorldLII as well as directly. As well, for cases, try the website of the court in question and for legislation, try the relevant government's website. Gazettes are the official source of legislation in some jurisdictions: see the Government Gazettes Online website.

See below for more information and for services to which the library subscribes.

• Government Gazettes Online: Government Gazettes are good sources for recent laws passed in a jurisdiction and many governments around the world have made their Gazette available on the Internet
• European Forum of Official Gazettes: Provides access to official government gazettes from EU countries as well as some non EU member countries.
• Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources 1600-1970: Historical American law (Gale Cengage)
• Lexis Advance Quicklaw: Select a country by clicking the flag next to the main search bar (Osgoode password necessary)
• Westlaw: Browse international sources under the "International" tab on the homepage (Osgoode password necessary)

• Carilaw: Commonwealth Caribbean primary legal materials (see also Justis) - see Reference Desk for login
• ChinaLawInfo: Authoritative translations of the most important Chinese legal documents, plus laws, regulations, cases and journals in Chinese
• Europa.eu: European Union website also contains national law of members in N-Lex
• Government Gazettes Online: A database maintained by the University of Michigan of all the official government gazettes, by country
• ICLR: Cases from England and Wales by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting
• JustisOne: A database primarily of English/Welsh, Scots and Irish law and commentary; also includes EU law and some Caribbean law.
• Legifrance: France
• Takdin: Israel (website in Hebrew)
• vLex: Focus on Central and South America
• WorldLII: Main page and International Law Library

There are many “LIIs” (Legal Information Institutes) searchable independently or from WorldLII's main page. They are created to make legal information accessible to the public and most are free of charge. The LII sites have both primary and secondary sources and some annotations, searchable by subject or jurisdiction. CanLII is Canada's site. Popular foreign sites are: AustLII (Australia and New Zealand), BAILII (UK), Cornell LII (US), and SAFLII (Southern Africa). The extent of coverage varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.