Paralegal Guide: Foreign and International Law Resources

A significant difference exists between foreign laws and international laws. While foreign laws are the laws of other nation-states that apply inside of their respective boundaries, international laws are laws created, agreed to, and upheld by a collective number of nation-states. Numerous online resources exist for both foreign and international laws.

In an ongoing effort to provide excellent legal studies resources, compiled below is a collection of online resource links to primary foreign and international legal studies resources, research aids, and other websites useful for the conducting of research in these areas of the law. These resources are meant for teachers, students, parents, and international law enthusiasts alike.

United Nations Legal Studies Resources

The United Nations (UN) is an international organization that was founded after World War II in 1945. The UN was originally founded by 51 nations that were dedicated to international peace, security, international relations, human rights, social progress, an improved worldwide standard of living and a better global quality of life. Since its creation in the middle of the 20^th century, the UN has assisted in the independence of more than 80 countries, territories, or regions that are today sovereign nation-states.

• The Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice is the founding document of the UN and its court system.
• The Dag Hammarskjöld Library is the UN Library that includes many legal studies-related documents.
  • The UN has an Audiovisual Library of International Law.
• The UN has an International Law section on their website.
• The UN Codification And Progressive Development Of International Law handles the actual lawmaking processes.
• The UN Office of Administration of Justice explains the internal working of the UN justice system.
• The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the main judicial body of the UN. UN financial assistance as well as specialized courts, chambers, and tribunals also exist:
  • The UN Secretary-General’s Trust Fund assists those nations that bring disputes to the ICJ.
  • The UN offers Legal Technical Assistance to Member States.
  • The UN’s Programme of Assistance in the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law was created in 1965.
  • UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
  • UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (UNICTR)
  • Special Court for Sierra Leone
  • Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
  • Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)
• The UN Treaty Collection is a database of all treaties and international agreements created since the formation of the UN, as well as the status of current treaties.
• The UN General Assembly is the UN body that addresses the general issues and questions of international law.
• The UN International Law Commission has its focus on the creation of the world’s international laws.
• The UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body that deals with all international trade law issues.
  • Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts (CLOUT) is a database on UNCITRAL rulings.
  • The Bibliography of recent writings related to the work of UNCITRAL is a searchable database.

• The UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea has a focus on oceanic activities, boundaries, and the laws that affect them.
• The UN offers a section on its website entitled Other legal areas, which covers numerous legal areas such as:
  • International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
  • Children And Armed Conflict
  • International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
  • UN Crime And Justice Information Network (UNCJIN)
  • UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
  • UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
  • UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
  • UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
  • UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
  • World Health Organization (WHO)
  • Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
  • World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
  • UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)
  • International Labour Organization (ILO)
  • International Maritime Organization (IMO)
  • UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
  • International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
  • UN Conference on Trade And Development (UNCTAD)
  • UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

Academic Foreign and International Legal Studies Resources

Many law schools throughout the world offer legal studies resources. These schools create, compile, gather, and list online legal resources on both the foreign and international laws of the world. From geographical regions to legal areas of practice, these resources offer an excellent starting place for any legal studies research.

• Washburn University School of Law offers both foreign and international laws by region and subject as well as a listing of International Law Schools and an International Law Institute.
• The Gallagher Law Library of the University of Washington School of Law offers links to Foreign Law Research, including databases.
• New York University (NYU) School of Law has an alphabetically-listed Guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases. NYU’s Hauser Global Law School Program’s electronic legal publication Globalex has numerous articles on international and foreign law, including one by Mary Rumsey entitled “Basic Guide to Researching Foreign Law.”
• The Thurgood Marshall Law Library has a comprehensive list of International and Foreign Law Resources that include indexes, primary sources, organizations and associations, and both research and teaching tools. Links on specific legal topics from art law & cultural property to war crimes are also available.
• The University of California, Berkeley has the Foreign Law Guide compiled by Thomas H. Reynolds and Arturo A. Flores.
• Harvard Law School offers numerous links on both foreign and international law through its Metapages and also has an International Law blog.
• Columbia Law School offers resources on International, Foreign and Comparative Law as well as Research Guides on international and foreign legal research.
• The George Washington University Law School shares An Annotated Guide To Selected International/Foreign Law Internet Sources. The guide covers reference tools, international and foreign law sites, treaties, and a range of international legal studies topics such as trade, economics, human rights, crimes, and the environment.
• Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII) offers information on Global law and International Law.
• The Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School has an article by Drew S. Days III for the Florida International University Law Review, entitled “International and Foreign Law North of the Border: The Canadian Experience.”
• The Princeton University Library shares an International & Foreign Legal Research Guide.
• The University of Chicago Library offers Foreign Law: Legal Research Resources on the Internet.
• Duke Law’s Library & Technology has information on Foreign & Comparative Law that includes research guides.
• The School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin has an Institute for Translational Law that offers Foreign Law Translations from the countries of Austria, France, Germany, and Israel.
• The Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library at the University of California, Los Angeles, provides the resource Researching Foreign Law: An Introduction that instructs on how to locate the laws of foreign jurisdictions.
• The Georgetown Law Library of the Georgetown University Law Center shares International and Foreign Law Research Basics. This guide provides an overview of foreign law as well as public and private international laws.
• The Illinois Institute of Technology’s Downtown Campus Library offers an International and Foreign Law Tutorial.
• Willamette College of Law’s J.W. Long Law Library has a Foreign and International Law webpage.
• The Florida State University shares an International and Foreign Law Research resource.

General International Legal Studies Resources

In addition, many general international legal studies resources exist.

• Wikipedia’s International law and International criminal law articles provide a basic overview and explanation of what international law is.
• The American Society of International Law (ASIL) encourages the study of international law as well as fair and just international relations.
• FindLaw.com has resource links on International Law.
• US News ranks the top 10 law schools in the United States for International Law.
• LLRX.com offers law and technology sources for legal professionals, including links to Comparative/Foreign Law and International Law Guides.
• The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources offers a resource on International and National Law.
• LawMoose.com is a Minnesota Legal Reference Library that offers resources on International and Foreign Law.
• The International Law Students Association (ILSA) is a non-profit organization made up of law students and lawyers who promote international law.
• The American Bar Association (ABA) has a Section of International Law.