Library Guides: Foreign and Comparative Law: Comparative legal research

Comparative legal research

Comparative law is a legal research method that compares the domestic laws of one country with another country. Comparative law tends to be subject-focused, comparing the laws on a particular topic in at least two jurisdictions.

The Law Library produces a range of Research Guides with links to key comparative research resources:

Finding Foreign Law - short videos
Includes a four-minute video showing how to use key comparative law indexes.

Reference and encyclopaedias

Legal encyclopaedias provide succinct summaries on legal topics. Each topic is written by an expert and regularly reviewed so the information is relevant and accurate to current law. They are arranged by subject and include legislation and case law authorities in support of the statements.

The Library subscribes to a number of reference and encyclopaedic materials useful for comparative legal research:

Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law
Contains analytical coverage of constitutional law topics in a comparative context, arranged alphabetically by topic. The encyclopedia articles provide analysis of key cases that have contributed to or advanced constitutional law concepts on a global scale, and key instruments in constitutional law history such as the Magna Carta, the Charter of Medina, and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.
Oxford Reference
Oxford Reference provides quality, up-to-date reference content on a range of subject areas such as law. It contains reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, guide books, and includes reference material such as the Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia.

Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law by Jan M. Smits, Jaakko Husa, Catherine Valcke, Madalena Narciso (Eds.)

Foreign law guide

Foreign Law Guide
The Foreign Law Guide allows you to browse or search by subject area. It includes the central primary sources, particularly legislation, in that area of law. A list of secondary sources on the subject may also be included for some jurisdictions.

You can navigate by Subject. Once you have selected a subject area, select your country of interest. The country page will include the primary law in the area, and secondary sources for selected subjects/jurisdictions.
EUR-Lex
Search EU legislation in force, regulations, directives and international agreements. You can also search by Themes using EuroVoc thesaurus.
N-Lex
Single entry point to individual EU countries' national law databases. Select EN for English and choose a country from the list or the map to search for legal acts, or find out more about its legal system.

Multinational Sources Compared

Multinational Sources Compared : a subject and jurisdiction index

Multinational Sources Compared is a HeinOnline database that identifies key secondary sources that compare laws in multiple jurisdictions on a particular subject. Browse by Subject to navigate to the topic of interest.

Use the Find It @ UniMelb link to see if we have the secondary source in the library. Each entry also highlights which jurisdictions are focused on in the secondary source.