Foreign, Comparative, and International Legal Research

GlobaLex' page devoted to international law resources. Includes introductions to researching a large number of topics within the field of international law.

One of the major reference works in the field of public international law, consisting of more than 1,700 entries across a broad range of subjects, including general principles, important cases, particular international courts and tribunals, and international conflicts of note. Offers full-text searching and browsing by subject or author.

One of the standard international law reference works, Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law is available electronically through the library (see below) as well as in print at the Law Library.

Another product of Oxford University Press, Oxford Bibliographies consists of annotated bibliographies on a wide range of topics. Temple subscribes to the bibliographies for International Law (more than 150 entries) and Criminology (more than 200 entries). Each subject is browsable and full-text searchable, and entries range from broad (“Peacekeeping in International Law”) to narrow (“Underwater Cultural Heritage”). Entries are examined for currentness at least once a year and new entries are added on an ongoing basis.

Main page for accessing Oxford University Press’ electronic resources for public international law. Temple has subscriptions to a a number of the titles offered through this portal; see links and descriptions below. You can use this page to browse by content type, subject, or jurisdiction across all of the component products to which Temple subscribes.

ORIL provides “currency and coverage of public international case law, reporting on international courts, domestic courts and ad hoc tribunals.” Temple currently has subscriptions to three modules offered through ORIL: International Law in Domestic Courts, International Human Rights Law, and International Criminal Law. Once you have selected a module, you can perform faceted searches (by type of case, subject, jurisdiction, date, etc.) and can set up alerts when new cases matching your criteria are reported.

OSAIL is an online collection of major international law books published by Oxford University Press, including authoritative treatises, black-letter reference works and commentaries, classic works on international law. Titles include Oppenheim's International Law, Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law, and the Oxford Commentaries on International Law.

“Founded in 1923, the Hague Academy of International Law has for decades served as a global centre for research about and teaching of public and private international law. Each summer the Academy organizes in its building located on the premises of the Peace Palace a six-week course at which well-recognized international law scholars present lectures and seminars in French and English on a wide range of current topics to young lawyers from throughout the world. These lectures are then published in the Academy’s prestigious Collected Courses.”

“This online documentary compendium gathers in a single easy-to-use collection the most significant and influential legal primary sources of the post-WWII global order. It is both a comprehensive documentary history of public international law over the past 70 years and an anthology of currently operational international instruments. Organized topically and chronologically, the collection provides easy and quick access to the most important international legal materials affecting the foundations of world public order; the laws of war; human rights; international trade, investment, and development; and environmental protection.”

The United Nations' Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) maintains its own database for materials from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the MICT Appeals Chambers.

Third edition of a standard reference work. As the term “encylcopaedic dictionary” suggests, the scope is broader than that of a typical dictionary, including entries for significant individuals, concepts, and cases as well as terms, phrases, and acronyms. Often includes references to cases and secondary sources, as appropriate.