Africa

African Online Library on Law and Governance

Large free collection of African law materials, including constitutions, legislation, treaties, court decisions, journal articles and some books, together with a news service and networking opportunities. Registration is required, but there is no charge. The Library can be browsed by country, organisation, or journal title, and there are simple and advanced search facilities. For each country, there is a brief description of the legal system, a list of intergovernmental organisations in which it participates and other information.

Database of the Constitutions of Sub-Saharan Africa

Database of constitutions and constitutional documents of African countries, provided by the University of Konstanz. The contents can be searched or browsed by jurisdiction. The database was been compiled by Katharina Holzinger, Florian Kern and Daniela Kromrey of the Department of Politics and Public Administration. Documents are provided in the original language; some historical versions are available as well as recent texts. Most can be downloaded and/or accessed via links to other websites.

Juricaf: la jurisprudence francophone des cours suprêmes

Collection of judgments from the highest French-speaking national and regional courts, provided free of charge by AHJUCAF, the Association of Francophone Supreme Courts (L'association des cours judiciaires suprêmes francophones), in partnership with the Université Paris I. As well as individual African, European, South-East Asian and American jurisdictions, Juricaf covers the courts of international organisations such as the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEDAC) and the Council of Europe.

SOAS Library

Website of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Library at the University of London, providing information about collections, services and facilities. Has a link to the Library Catalogue; a list of databases; details of e-books and e-journals; and the SOAS Archive Catalogue. There is a Subject Guide for the law collection, which includes a page of information by country or region covering Africa, China, Europe, International Law, Japan and Korea, the Middle East and Central Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia and the UK.

African Legislatures Project

The African Legislatures Project (ALP) is based at the Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa. The project conducts research into the way that the legislatures function. English is the main language but the introductory article in PDF which gives the background to the project is also available in French and Portuguese. Full-text access is given free of charge to a variety of Country Reports, Working Papers, text of Constitutions of the countries covered and Conference Papers.

African Human Rights Case Law Analyser: collection of decisions from the African human rights system

Free web database of over 200 decisions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACmHPR). There are also cases from other African human rights bodies including ECOWAS Community Court of Justice and the East African Court of Justice. Launched in November 2010, it is a joint project of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems (HURIDOCS).

African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights

Official website of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights which was established by a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights in1998. The African Court is based in Tanzania and started work in 2006. It has jurisdiction over all cases submitted to it regarding the interpretation and application of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and deals with human rights violations perpetrated by African Union Member States. The site has profiles of judges and information on the history and role of the Court.

African Union

The African Union (AU) seeks to promote unity and solidarity in Africa. Its website provides information about member states and events, together with the organisation's treaties, statements, decisions, declarations, reports and other documents. Several journals and newsletters are also available, largely in French. The site is in English, French and Arabic.

Introduction to the norms and institutions of the African Union

Guide to the African Union written by Girmachew Alemu Aneme, an Assistant Professor of Law at Addis Ababa University and updated in 2023 by Ufuoma Lamikanra who is a Lawyer and retired law librarian. The article was originally published in 2010 on the Globalex website and made freely available by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law. There is an introduction to the origins of the African Union (AU) which started off as the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

Lex Africa

Website for Lex Africa, a network of selected leading law firms throughout the countries of Africa. The site is hosted by Werksmans Attorneys in Johannesburg, South Africa. Each firm listed has information in HTML format about its staff, contact details, main areas of practice, and a guide to doing business in that particular country. Links are provided to other African business and trade sites.

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