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Guide to International and Foreign Legal Resources


Index to topics: UNITED NATIONS
INTERNATIONAL  COURTS
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
TREATIES
FOREIGN COUNTRIES
HUMAN RIGHTS
EUROPEAN UNION
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL LAW
OTHER USEFUL SITES


UNITED  NATIONS

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         United Nations Home Page   User-friendly starting point to access materials from U.N. organs;  Press releases and Daily Highlights; Many documents and resolutions. 

          Official Web Site Locator for the U.N. System of Organizations    Listing of all U.N. organizations with  their city locations, other information.

         U.N. Information Services    (From UNDCP). Nicely organized collection of links to U.N. sites.

         United Nations Documentation: Research Guide  Good explanation of U.N. documents.
 

        Selected UN Organizations:

         UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

         UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Org. (UNESCO)

         UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)

         UN Industrial Development Org. (UNIDO)



INTERNATIONAL COURTS

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         International Court of Justice (World Court)   Home page;  Decisions;  List of pending cases; background information and documents.

         International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia   Tribunal cases; Basic documents; Press releases.

         International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda  Decisions, documents, rules of procedure.

         International Criminal Court  Official U.N. site; Documents on establishment of court; Material from Rome Conference.

         Coalition for an International Criminal Court (CICC)  Primary non-governmental organization to monitor creation of an international criminal court; Documents and other types of information.

          European Court of Justice    Includes case-law of the Court and the Court of First Instance, texts of proceedings, notes for guidance of counselor.

          European Court of Human Rights    General Information, Basic Tests, Judgments.

          Inter-American Court of  Human Rights.  Official site. Includes opinions, and other publications. Some material in Spanish only.



INTERNATIONAL  ORGANIZATIONS

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         Directory of Organizations (From Northwestern University).   Extensive listing of organizations. Click on  initial letter of  organization  searched for.

Selective Listing of International Organizations:

         APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
         Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
         International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
         International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
         International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
         International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
         International Labor Organization (ILO)
         IMF International Monetary Fund
         International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
         International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
         North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
         Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
           Economic statistics and Indicators;  Statistics on many areas, including
           Agriculture, Health, Transport, etc.
         Organization for Security and Coopeation in Europe (OSCE)
           Documents; Information on Membership and Negotiating Bodies.
         Organization of African Unity (OAU)
         World Bank
            - World Food Programme (WFP)
            - World Health Organization (WHO)
            - World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
         World Trade Organization (WTO)



TREATIES 

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          United Nations Treaty Collection  (Access Restricted to Law Library only or to those with authorized network access). Available from Law Library "Restricted   Access" Area.

           Consortium for International Earth Sciences Information Network (Ciesin).   Environmental treaties and  national resource indicators.

           European Treaty Series (Council of Europe).  Conventions and Agreements prepared under the auspices of the Council.

            Hague Conventions on Private International Law (Hague Conference on Private International law).  Home Page.  Texts of  conventions,   status reports, overview of ratifications and signatories.

            Income Tax Treaties (Internal Revenue Service).     Go to "Income Tax Treaties" on left side of screen.           

           Multilaterals Project  ( Fletcher School of  Diplomacy).   Major site for multilateral treaties. Organized by subject; also  searchable by key-words.

            Intellectual  Property Treaties (World IP Organization).

            Private Law Conventions (U.S. Dept. of State).  Private International Law Conventions to which U.S. is a party. Arranged under headings   Trade/Business Transaction Law; International Judicial Assistance; Wills, Trusts and Estates; Family Law.
 



FOREIGN  COUNTRIES

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           COMPREHENSIVE SITES. The sites listed below provide links to legislation, cases, codes, constitutions, government agencies, etc. for many countries. For very selective listing of Legislation,  Cases,  and Codes by Country, see  section immediately following this.

          Cornell University Law  School Legal Information Institute.  Constitutions, judicial decisions, etc. for many countries.

          ForInt-Law ( Washburn University).  Comprehensive site for much  international and foreign legal  information.

          GLIN-Global Legal Information Network (Library of Congress).  Links to governments and laws of other countries.

          Governments on the WWW (Gunnar Anzinger).     Well-organized  site.  Geographic and subject categories.

          Constitution Finder (University  of Richmond).   Constitutions of many countries.

          Constitutions for OAS countries (Georgetown University).  Constitutions in original language of composition.

          Criminal Law Resources (University of  Buffalo).   Criminal legislation of many countries.

          GlobalCourts (Moss District Court, Norway).  Links to Supreme Court sites of many countries. Some allow access to Supreme Court decisions.

           Institute for Transnational Law. Foreign Law Translations (University of Texas)    Translations of statutes and cases from France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Israel in constitutional, administrative, contract and tort law.    

           Government Gazettes on the Web (University of  Michigan).

          LEGISLATION. CASES. CODES.  BY COUNTRY . (These  sites are also included within the Comprehensive Foreign Countries section above).
            

          AUSTRALIA

         Australian Legal Information Institute (AUSTLLI). Legislation and cases on both federal and state level.

        
          CANADA

         CANLII. Statutes and cases on both federal and provincial level.

         GERMANY

         Federal Court of  Justice (BGH). Includes decisions from  January 2000.

         German Law Archive.  (Oxford University) Provides translation of selective German cases and statutes. 
 
         Civil Code in English ( Federal Ministry of Justice).  As of  November 2007, Books 1 & 2 are available.

         FRANCE

         Text of official codes.  (In French, Spanish and English).
         Cour de Cassation.  Official site of the highest court. Contains selected decisions, annual reports since 1997.

         NEW ZEALAND

         New Zealand Legislation (N.Z. Parliamentary Council Office).  Unoffficial versions of New Zealand statutes and statutory regulations.    


         UNITED KINGDOM and IRELAND

         British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII). Cases and legislation for England, Wales, Scotland,  Northern Ireland and Ireland.
 

           SELECTIVE LISTING: COUNTRIES, REGIONS, CONTINENTS
 

            AFRICA

            General Sites
         Organization for African Unity Home Page.
           African Business Network.  Business and economic information on many African countries.

            Specific countries
           Angola Official government website.
           Gambia Official government website
           Madagascar U.S. Embassy
           Namibia Government sponsored website
           South Africa Communications Service Official government website
           Togo government website.

        ASIA
           Armenia - U.S. Consulate
             Cambodia - Cambodian Embassy
           Hong Kong - Information on the government,  laws, etc. on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
           Taiwan - Official government information site of the R.O.C.

         AUSTRALASIA
           Australia - Government Entrypoint
           Australasian Legal Information Institute   (University of New South Wales and University of Technology-Sydney). Searchable collection of statutes and cases for Australia.
           Fiji - Government homepage.
           New Zealand - Government homepage.
 

      LATIN  AMERICA

            LANIC  (Univ. of Texas).  Links to many   Latin American and Caribbean countries.
           Organization of American States.  Home page.

            MIDDLE EAST
           Israel  -  Site of the Ministry of  Foreign Affairs, it provides comprehensive material on the government, laws, court cases, policies.
            Jordan -  Official government website.

    NORTH AMERICA
           Canada - Official government information page.
           British Columbia Superior Courts - Administrative information and a searchable database of 1996-1997 decisions of the Supreme Court and Superior Court.
 

HUMAN RIGHTS  (Back to index)

         University of Minnesota Human Rights Library.   Comprehensive site includes:  Decisions and Reports of U.N. Human Rights Committee and of other U.N. Human Rights bodies; Treaties; Inter-American Human Rights System; many good links.

         Amnesty International.   Annual reports on various countries; Links to related sites.

         Asian Human Rights Commission.

         Human Rights Internet (HRI).   Network of human rights organizations;  Many documents and guides.

         Human Rights Watch.   Good site  for coverage of breaking news; Also contains World Report and Country Reports.  For reports, click on "Publications".

          Genocide Watch.  Site contains both international instruments and domestic legislation of many countries against genocide.

          Prevent Genocide International.  News and Educational Material. Very good for national legislation on genocide.

         International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).   Texts and commentaries on the four Geneva Conventions; Many other treaties; Basic rules of      humanitarian law i in armed conflict; Good for links.

         United Nations Research Guide: Human Rights.  Good explanation of  functions of various U.N. human rights bodies and links to them.

        U.S. Dept. of State Country Reports.   Annnual reports on human rights in many countries.
 
 



EUROPEAN  UNION (Back to index)

       Europa.  Official server of  the EU. Provides accesss to EU Commission, Parliament, Council, Court of  Justice, European  Central Bank and other bodies. Press releases and documents.

         Euro-lex.    Text of EU legislation as found in Official Journal; Judgments of European Court of Justice.

         European Court of Justice.   Cases from 1996.

          European Judicial Network (EJN).  Covers judicial cooperation in the EU; Schengen treaty protocols and other documents.

          Council of the European Union. Homepage.   Information on fundamental freedoms in the EU, transparency, common foreign and security policies, etc.
 

        Research  Resources on European Union
 

         European Union, European Commission (From NYU Law Library).  Very good guide and link source.

         European Union Information Resources.    Thorough guide  by the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States.

          Jean Monnet Chair (Harvard University).   Site includes Jean Monnet Papers on European integration, teaching material on European law and institutions, European Journal of International Law on-line.

        Miscellaneous Other  EU Sites

           Statewatch.  Monitors civil liberties in the EU.
 

INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL LAW

           Lex Mercatoria (Cameron May, Pub.)  This comprehensive, extensive site on commercial law includes links to important conventions, model rules and regulations, institutions, and writings. It began at the University of Tromso, and was hosted at the University of Norway.

            United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).  Primary documents and status information.

            U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale Goods (CISG). Excellent site from Pace University School of Law. Includes annotated text, provides case law and commentary for each article of the convention. Lists countries which have adopted the convention and relevant dates. Gives links to other international trade law databases.

             UNILEX (UNIDROIT et al.)  Case law on the U.N. Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and  on the UNIDROIT  Principles of International Commercial Contracts. Contains abstracts, as well as full text of decisions in original language if available. Also contains bibliographies for each instrument.

             CISG-online.ch   Contains some CISG cases and other materials. The focus of the site is on German-speaking countries, i.e. Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

           CLOUT (Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts). Abstracts of decisions involving UNCITRAL documents.

           UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law). Provides texts of conventions and their status. Also includes UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts.

            Juris International. Includes International Legal Instruments, Model Clauses and Drafting Guide for Contracts, material on WTO.

           International Court of Arbitration of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce). Includes Rules of Arbitration of the ICC.

           Research  Guides for  International  Commercial Law

           The following research guides are good sources for locating material in both print and electronic format.

            Private Internation Law (David  A. Levy)  From American Society of  International Law (ASIL). Includes sections on international sale of goods, international commercial arbitation, etc.

            Revised Guide to International Trade Law Sources on the Internet (Marci Hoffman)

            International Commercial Arbitration (Charlotte L. Bynum)

            International Commercial Arbitration: Resources in Print and Electronic Format (Lyonette Louis-Jacques)

            Update to International Commercial Arbitration: Locating the Resources (Jean M. Wenger)



OTHER  USEFUL INTERNATIONAL LAW SITES  (Back to index)

 The sites listed below offer links to many foreign and international law resources.

         American Society for International Law (ASIL).  Useful research guides for various areas of international law,  including  international criminal law,  international economic law,  international private law, etc.

          World Legal Information Institute.  Copious array of links to foreign and international sites.

         Harvard Law School Library. Annotated links to topics, guides and other good sites. 

          Law Links--University of Kent at Canterbury (Sarah Carter).  Well organized by topics, including criminal law, human rights.  Strong on U.K. sources.

         U.S. Dept. of  State.  Lists ambassadors and other foreign service personnel. Links to pertinent material for many topics, including Arms Control, Business, Labor, Law Enforcement, Terrorism, Trade, etc.

        
 
 

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