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Legal & Judicial Systems in Countries Around the World

Updated March 14, 2008.
Prepared by Cheryl Nyberg for Comparative Law & the Courts, LSJ 367, Prof. Rachel Cichowski. Course website. 

This guide identifies selected print and online sources describing the legal systems of foreign countries and their constitutions and constitutional courts. It also describes research strategies for locating other books and law review articles.

Book call numbers and locations are specific to the Gallagher Law Library, unless otherwise indicated.

Hein Online, the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, LegalTrac, and LexisNexis Academic are commercial databases to which the UW Libraries subscribe. To access these databases you must either use a UW-connected computer OR sign in with your UW NetID via the UW Libraries off-campus access link.

For more information on foreign, comparative, and international legal research, see our collection of legal research guides, especially the guides on Foreign Law Research and the multi-jurisdictional sets section of the guide on Research in Foreign & Comparative Law.

Sources on Legal Systems

Websites

  1. University of Ottawa, World Legal Systems
    Features a world map that uses color to indicate nations that operate under civil law, common law, customary law, Muslim law, and mixed legal systems. Briefly describes each type of legal system.
     
  2. Jurist, World Law
    Describes the constitution, government, and legislative process of countries of the world. Information comes from US State Department.
     
  3. CIA, World Factbook
    An authoritative source that describes the government, people, geography, and other topics for scores of countries around the world. Major updates are made annually; smaller updates are made throughout the year.
     
  4. Law Library of Congress, Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World
    Links to websites for constitutions and the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government for hundreds of countries. Some foreign country websites provide an English-language version but many do not.
Books
  1. Law and Judicial Systems of Nations, 4th ed. World Jurist Association, 2002. K583.W67 2002 at Reference Office. Example
    Describes the practice of law, organization of the bar, legal education, and courts of justice for 193 nations. Length: 2-6 pages per country.
     
  2. Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia, 1984-date. 21 vols. K530.M63 1984 at Reference Area. Example
    An introduction to legal systems, legal education, the practice of law, and forms of government. Length: 10-50 pages per country.
     
  3. Legal Systems of the World: A Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia, 2002. 4 vols. K48.L44 2002 at Reference Area. Also available at Suzzallo Reference & UW Bothell/Cascadia Community College Library Reference.

Sources for Constitutions

Websites
  1. Constitutions, Treaties and Declarations. Links to Internet sources for more than 150 countries.
     
  2. University of Richmond, Constitution Finder. Links to Internet sources of constitutions for countries around the world.
Books
  1. Constitutions of the Countries of the World, 1971-date. 22 vols. K3157.A2 B58 1971 at Reference Area
    English-language text for 192 countries.
     
  2. Constitutions of the World, 2d ed. K3165.M33 2001 at Suzzallo Reference
    Covers basic provisions for 100 countries. Includes unique features, influences from other nations, government structures, and fundamental rights.
     
  3. Encyclopedia of World Constitutions, 3 vols. K3157.E5E53 2007 at Suzzallo Reference
    Describes constitutions of more than 190 countries. Covers constitutional principles, fundamental rights, and related topics.

Sources on Constitutional Courts & Cases

Websites
  1. Constitutional Courts. Links to constitutional court websites for more than 50 countries.
     
  2. Global Courts. Links to Supreme Court decisions from around the world.
     
  3. Worldwide Constitutional Courts. Links to constitutional court websites for more than 60 countries.
     
  4. World Legal Information Institute. Provides cases, codes, treaties, and other legal texts for many countries of the world. Links to an online, "on-the-fly" translation service.

Periodicals

  1. Bulletin on Constitutional Case-Law, 1993-date. KJC4444.52.B85 at Classified Stacks. Available online, CODICES.
     
  2. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2003-date. K3165.I57 at Classified Stacks & online via the UW Libraries catalog. Not indexed in LegalTrac or the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals; not available on LexisNexis Academic.

How to Find Other Books

The Gallagher Law Library has many books on the legal systems of and constitutional developments in foreign countries. Beyond the Law Library, UW students have access to the collections of more than 30 other college and university libraries in Washington and Oregon--and you can directly request these books using the Summit catalog.

Search by keyword with the name of your country and one or more of the following terms:

For example, "india and constitution". Note that you can combine terms: "india and (constitution or constitutional or judicial)".

How to Find Law Review Articles

Four databases are useful for finding law review articles:

  1. LexisNexis Academic contains US law review articles from the mid-1980's to date.
  2. LegalTrac indexes US, Canadian, UK, and Australian law review articles from 1980 to date. LegalTrac also includes a small number of complete articles.
  3. The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals indexes law reviews that are published in countries outside of the US, as well as US law reviews that focus on comparative, foreign, and international law.
  4. Hein Online contains PDF images of US law reviews from 1808 (that's right, 1808) to last year). The search feature is slow and clumsy. Hein Online is best used to retrieve copies of law review articles when the citations are known (for instance, from LegalTrac searches).

Access all of these databases through the UW Libraries > Resources by Subject > Law page or via the UW Libraries > Research Databases page. When computing from home, click on the Off-Campus Access link and sign in with your UW NetID before going to one of the databases.

Search by keyword with the name of your country and one or more of the terms suggested in the How to Find Other Books section above.

 

©2007, M.G. Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington