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.

Droit des affaires au Tchad

Collection of legal materials relating to business and company law in Chad, on Droit-Afrique.Com, a web portal to business law in French-speaking Africa. The site gives details of pan-African organisations of which Chad is a member and provides fiscal, commercial, welfare, investment and mining laws of the country. There is a page of links to the websites of African organisations and other sites providing legal information on Chad. The site is in French only.

Droit des affaires en République Centrafricaine

Collection of legal materials relating to business and company law in Central African Republic, on Droit-Afrique.Com, a web portal to business law in French-speaking Africa. The site gives details of pan-African organisations of which Central African Republic is a member and provides fiscal, commercial, welfare, investment and mining laws of the country. There is a page of links to the websites of African organisations and other sites providing legal information on Central African Republic. The site can be viewed in French only.

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).

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