Tag Archives: Foreign Law

Getting Started with FCIL Research in Chicago

Are you looking for a treaty or other international agreement?  A non-U.S. law?  A foreign court decision in English translation?  Comparative commentary on an area of law? A European Union directive?  A UN resolution?  Here are a few sources you can start with for various types of foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) research questions. And especially here in Chicago.

Ask a Chicago FCIL Librarian for Help

Several of the 80+ FCIL librarian specialists in the U.S. call Chicago home or are CALL members: me (Lyonette Louis-Jacques), Anne Abramson, Julienne Grant, and Trezlen Drake. Bill Schwesig is the Anglo-American/Common Law Bibliographer at D’Angelo Law Library. Jean Wenger and Heidi Kuehl, now in administrative positions, also have FCIL research expertise. Continue reading Getting Started with FCIL Research in Chicago

Foreign and International Law Databases in CALL Libraries

UNFlagsBesides rich print foreign, comparative, and international law collections, Chicago Association of Law Libraries (CALL) libraries also subscribe to a variety of key general and specialized FCIL databases. The focus of e-resource subscriptions differs from library to library depending on user interests and needs. You can find databases to which a CALL library subscribes by visiting their websites. For example: D’Angelo (University of Chicago); DePaul; Chicago-Kent; John Marshall; Loyola; Northern Illinois University (NIU); Valparaiso.

Below is a list of some of the FCIL-related specialty online databases, research platforms, and websites accessible to users in CALL libraries.

Note that, because of the vagaries of our times, this list might change next week! Budget cuts or changes in user interests may mean that a database might not be renewed or might be added.  Sometimes databases cease to exist. iSinoLaw became Westlaw China, for example. The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) and the International Digest of Health Legislation (IDHL) are essentially gone.

Continue reading Foreign and International Law Databases in CALL Libraries

See the World from the 29th Floor: The FCIL Collection at Cook County Law Library

“I need the law of … Turkey and Argentina and Japan and Qatar.” To meet the legal research needs of the legal profession, county residents, and businesses engaged in the global community, the Foreign and International Law Division at the Cook County Law Library (CCLL) contains legal information resources from jurisdictions around the world. In this brief article, I would like to introduce CALL members and others to the range of global resources located in CCLL at the Daley Center. Continue reading See the World from the 29th Floor: The FCIL Collection at Cook County Law Library

Book Review – The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities

In his book, The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities (Knopf, 2015), Justice Stephen Breyer examines the ways in which foreign law and circumstances impact the Supreme Court. Many of Justice Breyer’s critics often disapprove of the Justice’s global outlook. In writing this book, Justice Breyer aims, in part, to put his critics’ anxieties about national sovereignty “in perspective.” So, what is the perspective of Justice Breyer?

Justice Breyer defines the Court and the World broadly, dividing the book into four categories: Part I examines how the Court can effectively protect basic liberties in the face of security threats; Part II focuses on statutory interpretation and asks: Can American statutes be understood to open the doors of American courts to foreign victims of human rights abuses? And what is the geographical reach of commercial statutes?; Part III considers how the Court interprets treaties that concern unfamiliar subjects; and Part IV looks at the extent to which exchanges between judges and lawyers of different nations help judges reach better decisions.

Justice Breyer backs up his main points with copious and detailed examples, making this book a valuable, if sometimes dry, resource. In fact, a casual book reviewer might be inclined to crack open a beer (Lagunitas … Born Yesterday… Fresh. Hoppy. Invigorating. However, this is a book review, not a beer review!) to get through the last 100 or so pages.

Continue reading Book Review – The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities