Reference sources

LegiGlobe

French-language website providing an introduction to about 150 of the world’s legal systems, together with an overview of many comparative law topics and introductions to selected. international organisations. LegiGlobe is an initiative of the Réseau Francophone de Diffusion du Droit (RF2D), supported by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. The website can be browsed by country, international organisation or comparative law topic. There is also a site index and a collection of useful links.

Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707

Open-access database containing the proceedings of old Scottish parliaments, 1235 to 1707. Produced by the Scottish Parliament Project at the University of St Andrews, the database is the most comprehensive collection of Scottish parliamentary proceedings ever produced; it includes legislation, records of parliamentary proceedings, petitions, letters patent, charters and other documents. Latin and English parallel texts are provided. There are simple and advanced search facilities, or the data can be browsed by reign.

Legal Abbreviations

Extensive list of abbreviations for law reports, law journals, courts, government departments, international organisations and so on, provided by Monash University Library, Australia. Covers Australia and other common law jurisdictions and public international law; also has key abbreviations from civil law jurisdictions.

International Arbitration Attorney Network

Website of the International Arbitration Attorney Network, a group founded by lawyer William Kirtley of Franco-American law firm Dugué and Kirtley. In addition to advertising the Network, the site provides a large amount of information about international arbitration law and practice. This includes a guide to finding arbitration case law on the internet; information about arbitration clauses and third-party funding of cases; an ICC Cost Calculator; a set of links to freely available books and book extracts (under ‘Online Arbitration Library’).

UNCTAD Investment Dispute Settlement Navigator

Compilation of information about pending and concluded arbitrations from 1987 onwards, provided on the UNCTAD website. ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC and other cases are covered. For concluded cases, the information provided includes dates, parties and countries, the type of investment, the legal instrument involved, the arbitration rules/venue, brief details of the decision, the amount sought and the amount awarded. Where possible, links to the full decision are provided. To search the database, click on ‘Show display options’

Nederlandse Grondwet

This website gives an overview of the development of the Dutch Constitution, from the late eighteenth century to the present day, and provides information about pending changes. It includes translations of the current Constitution into English, French, German and Spanish, but most of the content is in Dutch. To find the translations, keep clicking on the links under each article of the current Constitution (‘Huidige Grondwet’).

Database of Federal Statute Names

Free database of popular names of US federal statutes, compiled by Yale’s Lillian Goldman Law Library. The main focus is on names which do not communicate clearly the subject of the legislation, for example the ‘Rankin Act’ and the ‘Serve America Act’. For each statute, the official citations and short title (if any) are given. Each statute title is categorised using the following list of types: Sponsor, Description, Honor, Case, Tribe, Victim, Political Description, Location, Undefined, Award, Abbreviation, Acrostic, Private Law, Institution.

ecoi: European Country of Origin Network

Collection of country-of-origin information intended for use by lawyers and others involved in asylum claims, provided by a department of the Austrian Red Cross. Ecoi.net has a page for each country of the world; each page provides key reports and other documents, national laws translated into English, maps and links to country profiles (by the UN, CIA, BBC and so on). Basic and advanced search facilities are available. The site also includes a blog.

Table of Regnal Years of English Sovereigns

The number of the regnal year is part of the citation for an old English statute; this table gives the exact dates of every regnal year from 1066 up to 1962. It is accompanied by an introduction explaining the various dating systems which have been used in England. The table and introduction have been reproduced from Sweet and Maxwell’s ‘Guide to Law Reports and Statutes’, 4th edition, 1962, and made available online by Harvard Law School Library.

Legal Research Engine

Specialist internet search facility for law, provided by Cornell University Law Library. Users may search law websites generally, or choose from three targeted search options: academic law blogs, selected law websites, or legal research guides. The search faciliities may be used to research the law of many different jurisdictions, but their scope is largely restricted to information provided by US-based websites and by the websites of international organisations.

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