Library Guides: Southeast Asian Region Countries Law: Regional & Comparative Resources

This guide

This Guide will help you research the legal systems of the 10 South East Asian nations that comprise The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. For information about ASEAN and human rights, see the South East Asian page on our Human Rights Research Guide. Japan and Korea have also been added to this Research Guide.

The Legal Systems of South East Asian Nations. Image source: Juriglobe

Legal Systems of SE Asian Nations

Legal Systems in ASEAN
(open access) - from the ASEAN Law Association. Note that only 7 countries are so far included (not Cambodia, Lao PDR or Myanmar). For each jurisdiction, there are chapters on: Historical Overview, Sources of Law, Government and the State, Legal Procedure and The Legal Profession.

Foreign Law Guide (Brill)
(UniMelb staff & student access) covers all ASEAN jurisdictions. You can search or browse by jurisdiction or subject. Each jurisdiction includes:
• introductory information on the Government & Legal System, Legal History, Legislation and the Judicial System, and lists primary sources and in what format these are available (including open access online sources) - including official Gazettes, legislation, law reports, and a bibliography of secondary sources such as books.
• a list of laws arranged alphabetically by topic.

Juriglobe - World Legal Systems
(open access) includes the following alphabetical, graphical and statistical distributions for all countries:
Demographic Distribution per Legal System
Legal Systems of United Nations Member States
Languages and Legal systems
Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia
- on HeinOnline (UniMelb staff & student access). Although dated, the scholarly chapters provide excellent and detailed information about each of the 10 ASEAN countries.

Doing Business in South East Asia

Doing Business
From the World Bank (Open Access) Provides statistics and other measures of business regulations and their enforcement in 190 countries.
Doing Business Law Library
Provides a large collection of business laws and regulations, linking to government sites where possible. To see laws on a particular topic for South East Asian countries, select East Asia & Pacific under the 'Economies' heading and then 'Choose Laws' by topic and then click 'Create Report'.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
2020 Regional Profile.
International Comparative Legal Guides
(Open Access)
Describes the law in 41 practice areas relevant to doing business in 140 countries in the world - including the areas of employment law, tax, cartels, arbitration, finance and dispute resolution. 8 of the 10 ASEAN nations are included (not Lao or Cambodia). Includes a very useful 'compare' feature to compare two or more jurisdictions on a particular practice area.

Lexology
(UniMelb staff & students)
Covers 150 jurisdictions and over 80 practice areas spanning competition & regulatory, dispute resolution & litigation, tax, white collar crime, IP, corporate, commercial, banking & finance, infrastructure & transport, energy & natural resources, insurance and compliance. The database can be searched by practice area or jurisdiction. A handy feature is Compare - select a practice area and then two or more jurisdictions to compare the laws in those countries on that topic. Note that Brunei is not included, and many Southeast Asian countries do not include all practice areas.

Business Monitor Online
(UniMelb staff & students) provides country risk, industry and company intelligence covering global markets and 24 industry sectors - including banking and finance, agribusiness, insurance, mining and tourism. All ASEAN nations are included, and also the Asian region in general.

International business: the new realities by S. Tamer Cavusgil et al
Call Number: Giblin Library High Use 658.049 CAVU
Publication Date: Pearson Australia, 2015

General Country Information

Use the following resources to find general country information about the 10 countries in this guide - history, demographics, economy, government etc.

Country Reviews
(UniMelb staff & student access) - annually updated in-depth reports of demographic, social, political, economic, business, investment, cultural and environmental information. These are excellent up to date sources of information, which include information on freedoms, human rights, status of women etc.
Europa World Plus
(UniMelb staff & student access):
• Use the Countries/Territories tab on the top menu for information on individual ASEAN nations.
• Use the Comparative Statistics tab on the left hand menu to compare two or more countries on specific topics.
• Use the Regions tab on the top menu to access the Far East and Australasia database - this includes introductory information, topical chapters and chapters on organisations, including ASEAN and APEC.

Human Rights in ASEAN
Human Rights in ASEAN - Member States
(Open access) includes country information on all 10 ASEAN Member States.
CIA World Factbook
(Open access) includes country information for all 10 ASEAN countries.
The World Factbook Guide to Country Comparisons
Compares all countries in 80 topic areas under the main headings of Geography, People and Society, Economy, Energy, Communications, Military, Transportation.
Australian Government DFAT Country Briefs

Rule of Law in ASEAN

Update on the Rule of Law for Human Rights in ASEAN: The Path to Integration
(2016) - includes detailed chapters on all ASEAN nations.
Human Rights in ASEAN
Select Country Background from the top menu. Each country has a section on the Rule of Law & Human Rights.
World Justice Project Rule of Law Index
Use the interactive map to view each country's scores, or download the latest full report as a PDF.
World Justice Project Rule of Law Index - Full Report

The Development of the Rule of Law in ASEAN: the state and regional integration by Imelda Deinla
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: CUP, 2017

Research Guides

Globalex
Research Guides (open access) are excellent and up to date overviews of the legal systems of individual countries, guides to legal research and links to primary and secondary material in 9 of the 10 ASEAN nations (not Brunei).
Sharīʿah Law in South East Asian (ASEAN) Region: Business and Religion - An Exploratory Introduction
by Jeong Chung Phuoc (2017)
Library of Congress Guide to Law Online
Provides brief information on the legal systems of the 10 ASEAN nations and links to open access sources for legislation and cases.

ASEAN

This box provides general information about ASEAN. For information about ASEAN and human rights, see the South East Asian page on our Human Rights Research Guide.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration), which set outs the aims and purposes of ASEAN.

ASEAN - About Us about the history, establishment, structure and activities of ASEAN.

The 10 ASEAN Member States have adopted a set of fundamental principles, as contained in the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC).

The ASEAN Community comprises three pillars, the ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

The ASEAN Charter entered into force on 15 December 2008. It is the foundation for achieving the ASEAN Community by providing the legal status of and institutional framework for ASEAN. It also codifies ASEAN norms, rules and values, sets clear targets for ASEAN; and presents accountability and compliance. For detailed commentary on the Charter, see the following book: