Legal Research

Legal research is the investigation of information necessary to support legal decision-making, when applied by judges, or the search for authority that can be applied to a given set of facts and issues, when practiced by a researcher.

International Legal Research Resources

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries and Digests

• Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia. A substantive introduction to major legal systems of the world.
• Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Relations. Covers the UN and other international organizations; annotates thousands of conventions, treaties, and agreements; explains terms of international relations.
• Dictionary of International & Comparative Law. Not only explains legal terms, but also provides citations to many international treaties, agreements, and cases.
• Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest. A digest of major legal systems of countries in the world.
• European Current Law: Monthly Digest. Reports current developments in cases, legislation, and treaties in both EC and non-EC countries.

U.S. Treaties and Agreements: Indexing and Status Checking

• Treaties in Force. A list of Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States in Force on January 1, [1994]; valuable as an index to U.S. treaties and for status checking of the treaties.
• A Guide to the United States Treaties in Force. An index to U.S. treaties and agreements with access points by TIAS number, TS number, and other numbers. Includes indexing by subject and countries, and contains a chronological list of U.S. treaties and agreements.
• United States Treaty Index: 1776-1990 Consolidation. An index to U.S. treaties from 1776 to 1990.
• Current Treaty Index. A supplement to United States Treaties Index: 1776-1990 Consolidation.

U.S. Treaties and Agreements: Finding the Text

• TIAS (Treaties and Other International Acts Series). A series of newly concluded treaties and agreements issued in pamphlet format, which are arranged chronologically in order of publication.
• United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST). Publishes official text of U.S. treaties and agreements from 1950; includes the text of each treaty in the language of each signatory.
• Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949(Bevans). A compilation of text of historical U.S. treaties and agreements.
• International Legal Materials. A quarterly journal which reprints text of treaties, agreements, court cases and documents; also provides text of national legislation and legal documents.

Other Treaties and Agreements: Indexing and Status Checking

• Multilateral Treaties: Index and Current Status. A list of major multilateral treaties and agreements with indication of their initial date of entry, names of parties, current status, and bibliographical location.
• World Treaty Index. Provides access to the League of Nations Treaty Series, the United Nations Treaty Series, and over 22,000 other treaties.

Other Treaties and Agreements: Finding the Text

• United Nations Treaty Series. Publishes text of international treaties and agreements deposited with the UN since 1946.
• Yearbook of the United Nations. Describes the proceedings and activities of the UN itself and its specialized agencies, contains membership lists of the UN and its agencies, and gives cross-references to official UN documents.

Case Research

• American International Law Cases. A reprint of U.S. federal and state cases involving international law issues; 1st series covering 1783-1968; 2nd series covering 1986-1988; 3rd series covering 1990-1991.
• International Court of Justice: Reports of Judgements, Advisory Opinions and Orders. Full text official report of decisions, opinions, and orders by the Court.
• International Court of Justice: Pleadings, Oral Arguments, Documents (1946–). Official report of text of statements, Pleadings, oral arguments and other documents filed with the Court.
• International Law Reports. A comprehensive reporter of decisions from national and international tribunals, covering cases from 1919 to present.
• Common Market Reporter. Reports EC court decisions and legal developments since 1961.
• European Human Rights Reports. Reports and discusses current human rights cases mainly in the European Court of Human Rights.
• Reports of Cases Before the Court (1973-1989). As official law reporter of the Community, this publication reprints the text of the cases by the Court of Justice of the European Communities.

Other Information Sources

• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. Includes citations to legal periodical articles about international law, comparative law and the municipal law of all countries except the U.S. and British Commonwealth.
• Yearbook of International Organizations. Provides telephone numbers, addresses, and descriptions of most international organizations, including information about an agency’s purpose, membership, and important documents.
• Constitutions of the Countries of the World. A collection that publishes the English-language texts of 160+ national constitutions. Each entry contains a country’s constitution, an annotated bibliography, and a chronology summarizing the nation’s constitutional history.

Research Guides and Manuals

• Germain’s Transnational Law Research: A Guide for Attorneys. A continuously updated guide to foreign law materials in English, with country specific information.
• Guide to International Legal Research. A research handbook, annotated bibliography, and source book.
• Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World. This multi-volume looseleaf publication provides a comprehensive analysis of major codification and other official sources regarding the jurisdictions covered; updated continuously.

Abbreviations Used in Treaty Research

• AD “Additional documents”abbreviation used by Kavass and Michael in U.S. Treaty Index refers to U.S. international documents from 1776 to 1949.
• Bevans Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949.
• EAS Executive Agreement Series. 1929-1945, pre-TIAS.
• KAV Kavass numbers have been assigned for the temporary identification of treaties and agreements entered into by the United States since 1950. Most will eventually be published in TIAS.
• LNTS League of Nations Treaty Series.
• Malloy Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols, and Agreements Between the United States of America and Other Powers.
• Miller Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America. Stat. United States
• Statutes at Large. TIAS Treaties and Other International Acts Series.
• UST United States Treaties and Other International Agreements. Unperfected Treaties of the United States of America 1776-1976.

More Resources

• Low cost internet US legal research
• Free internet US legal research
• Legal research: resources for libraries
• Invisible web for legal research
• Legal research: Law of Libraries and Archives

• J.D.S. Armstrong & Christopher A. Knott, Where is the Law: An Introduction to Advanced Legal Research (2d ed. 2006).
• Frank S. Bae, Searching the Law (3d ed. 2005).
• Robert Berring, Legal Research Survival Manual (2002).
• William Burnham, Introduction to the Law & the Legal System of the United States (2002).
• Morris L. Cohen et al., How to Find the Law (9th ed., 1989).
• Morris L. Cohen & Kent C. Olson, Legal Research in a Nutshell (9th ed. 2007).
• Alan L. Dworsky, User’s Guide to the Bluebook (2006).
• Stephen Elian, Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law (2002).
• A Guide to Legal Research in Virginia (John D. Eure & Gail F. Zwirner eds., 5th ed. 2005).
• Elyse H. Fox, The Legal Research Dictionary: From Advance Sheets to Pocket Parts (2d ed. 2006).
• W. William Hodes, Legal Research A Self Teaching Guide to the Law (1983).
• J. Myron Jacobstein, et al., Fundamentals of Legal Research (7th ed., 2002).
• Jacob M. Jacobstein et al., The Noter Up: An Update Service to Fundamentals of Legal Research and Legal Research Illustrated (reprint ed., 2007).
• Mary Prince Miles, Biber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (5th ed., 2001).

Laurel Currie Oates, Just Research (2005). KF240 .O18 2005 Jean P. O’Grady, Legal Research: Techniques and Strategies for Associates (1991). KF240 .L427 1991 Daniel Oran & Mart Tosti, Oran’s Dictionary of the Law (3d ed. 2000). Reference KF156 .O69 2000 William H. Putnam, Pocket Guide to Legal Research (2008). KF 240 .P886 2008 Amy E. Sloan, Basic Legal Research Workbook (2005).

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

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See Also

Legal Gateways Resources (14)
Legal Information Institute resources (13.9)
Low cost internet US legal research (13.7)
Legal research: Law of Libraries and Archives (13)
Legal research: resources for libraries (12.7)
Legal research: Files: Law and Media Technology (12.3)
Boolean and Free-text Searching for Legal Research (11.9)
List of Legal Databases and Indexes (11.6)
WTO/GATT Research (11.4)

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Legal Research

Contents of Legal Research

Contents of this subject matter include:

• Introduction—The Nature of Legal Research
• Legal Resources Overview
• Managing Research, Recording and Storing Data (Library session)
• Methodology and Methods I

  Legal Theory

  Legal Writing

• Methodology and Methods II

  Doctrinal Research

• Methodology and Methods III

  Comparative Research

  Researching US and European Law

  International Legal Resources Overview

• Methodology IV

  Socio-Legal Research and Ethics

Introduction

Legal Research

This entry provides an overview of the legal framework of legal research, with a description of the most significant features of legal research at international level.

Related Work and Conclusions

Resources

See Also

References (Papers)

• Artificial Intelligence: Legal Research And Law Librarians, Mary Ann Neary, Sherry Xin Chen, May 2017
• Sovereignty And Social Change In The Wake Of India’S Recent Sodomy Cases, Deepa Das Acevedo, Apr 2017
• Legal Writing And International Students: Reconsidering “Complete Immersion”, Alissa J. Hartig, Apr 2017
• Foreword: The Books Of Justices, Linda Greenhouse, Apr 2017
• In Praise Of Legal Scholarship, Tamara R. Piety, Mar 2017
• On Terra Firma With English, Gerald Lebovits, Feb 2017