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Foreign and Comparative Law

Determining and accessing a country's primary legal sources

The types of materials produced in the law-making process will vary depending on the type of legal system in a particular jurisdiction i.e. common law, civil law, customary law, religious law, or mixed systems.

The following resources will help you determine the type of legal system in a particular jurisdiction and the primary sources of law within that jurisdiction:

Library guides

Library Research Guides are a useful way to identify and access the primary legal sources for different jurisdictions. 

University of Melbourne research guides (law)

University of Melbourne's Research Guides for law are separated into the following sections: Australian Law, General Legal, Foreign, Global & Comparative Law, and International Law. Refer to the research guide in your jurisdiction of interest (if available).

These guides will direct you to databases the University of Melbourne Library subscribe to, as well as any freely available websites or databases.

Supporting the guides are a series of short videos on legal research.

Other useful guides

While the Law Library has a number of Research Guides on various jurisdictions, there is not a guide on every jurisdiction. If the Law Library does not have a research guide on your particular jurisdiction, try the following resources:


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