Law Web Resources

Resource Lists
Databases
International Law
Other Jurisdictions
European Union
Human Rights
Company Law & Insolvency
Criminal Justice
Law Reports & Legislation
Government & Judiciary
International Organisations
Electronic Journals
Newspapers
Legal Education & the Legal Profession
Legal Publishers, Bookshops, Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
Pressure Groups
Lancaster University Links

This is not an attempt to provide a comprehensive list of web sites containing legal information, although I have provided links to sites that very nearly are. It has been created primarily for students studying law at Lancaster, but might be generally useful to anyone interested in law. I have tried to keep the list manageable by keeping it brief, but I am always open to suggestions for new links (and please inform me of any dead links). If you do not find what you are looking for by browsing then try searching the Web through one of the following search engines:

All the Web
AltaVista
Google - highly recommended

There is also a Law Guide, containing information about the Library's law collection and online databases. If you find using the internet for legal research a bit daunting I can recommend this "teach yourself" tutorial on Internet information skills for lawyers.

Resource Lists

This is a short list of general legal resource lists, though one or two are quite specific in subject coverage. Many of them adopt a directory approach to organising information. They can be good places to start browsing.

The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
The BUBL WWW Subject Tree - Law
The Constitution Society - including the Liberty Library of Constitutional Classics
FindLaw: Internet Legal Resources - this site allows you to search US Law Reviews
FLAG - Foreign Law Guide
Hieros Gamos - claims to be the "comprehensive" legal site
LawGuru
Lawlinks - a list maintained by Sarah Carter from the University of Kent
Law List @ Yahoo
Legal Information Institute - based at Cornell University
Intute
World Legal Information Institute
The World Wide Web Virtual Library: Law

Databases

BAILII - The British & Irish Legal Information Institute
BOPCRIS - British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service: Bibliographic database
Business Source Premier - the main focus of this database is Business and Management journals, but it does also contain over 200 law journals
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
Casetrack - full-text caselaw 1996 onwards - this site is very useful for recent judgments that are as yet unreported
LexisLibrary - a full-text database, containing UK, US case law and legislation, plus a wide range of Newspapers from around the world. See the short guide to using LNB
UKOP - United Kingdom Official Publications - a bibliographic database 1980- (campus use only)
United Nations Treaty Database
Web of Science - contains the Social Science Citation Index, a useful non-legal database..
Westlaw UK - a full-text database, containing UK, EU and US case law & legislation. Also contains full text journal articles from a wide range of US Law Reviews and a smaller range of UK Law Journals and newspapers. See the short guide to using Westlaw

International Law

American Society of International Law
Bank for International Settlements
EISIL (Electronic Information System for International Law) - primary materials, authoritative websites, research guides
European Environmental Law
European Lawyers Union (UAE)
ICSID - International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes
International Constitutional Law
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (UN)
International Court of Justice (UN)
International Law Commission
Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge
Lex Mercatoria - information on International Commercial & Trade Law
RAVE - decisions and articles in public international law and European law
UNCTAD International Investment Agreements - compilation of international investment agreements and instruments
United Nations Treaty Database

Other Jurisdictions

This is a short list of good examples. Use the resource lists above for more comprehensive lists. Or try the World Legal Information Institute or New York University School of Law for an excellent range of links. If you want to find out the foreign law holdings of other UK libraries then use the FLAG database.

Australasia

Australasian Legal Information Institute
Queensland Courts website - includes full text judgments from 2000

Canada

Access Canada - Law - gateway to information resources on Canadian law
CanLII - Canadian Legal Information Institute
JURIST Canada

China

Finland

Finnish Law on the Internet

France

Germany

Bundesverfassungsgericht - information and judgments from the Constitutional Court
Deutscher Bundestag - information about the German national parliament in English
Parlamentsspiegel - information and documents from the regional parliaments

India

Ireland

Courts Service
Government of Ireland - includes Acts of the Oireachtas 1922-1997
Legal-Island - Legal information & resources

South Africa

Sweden

Swedish Statutes in Translation

Switzerland

Confoederatio Helvetica - Systematische Sammlung des Bundesrechts - Swiss legislation, text in German, French and Italian, with some documents in English

USA

Martindale-Hubbell Legal Articles - articles on American practice written by US lawyers; you need to register for free access
THOMAS - US Legislative Information on the Internet
US Code
US Constitution
US Courts - A list of US Courts, including District Courts
US Department of Justice
US Government Printing Office - includes access to the Federal Register, The Congressional Record and a wide range of other sources
US House of Representatives

European Union

Europa - the European Union's Homepage

Or, direct links to the main institutions:

The Presidency of the European Council is currently held by Spain.

Databases

CORDIS - Community Research and Development Information Service
ECLAS - the European Commission Library Catalogue
EUR-Lex - full-text of the Official Journal, also includes consolidated versions of the Treaties and caselaw from the Court of Justice
Legislative Observatory - chart the progress of pending EU legislation
Market Access Database
PreLex - inter-institutional procedures
RAPID - European Commission's Spokesman's Service - with a searchable database
TED - Tenders Electronic Daily

Current Awareness

EBED - Electronic Bulletin of European Documentation
eP News - from the UK Office of the European Parliament
Europe Today - from the BBC World Service
European Voice - a weekly view of the Union
Press Room of the European Commission
The Week in Europe - from the London Office of the European Commission

EU Bodies and Offices

Citizens First - information about living, studying, working and travelling in the EU
Delegation of the European Commission in the United States
European Central Bank
European Commission - Representation in the UK
European Environment Agency
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
European Investment Bank
European Ombudsman
EUROSTAT - the Statistical Office of the European Communities
Eurydice - Information Network on Education in Europe
INFOREGIO - Regional Policy
Information Society
UK Office of the European Parliament

Human Rights

American Civil Liberties Union
Amnesty International UK
Charter of Fundamental Rights - a useful site with lots of background information
Council of Europe Directorate General of Human Rights
Derechos - Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
Human Rights Internet - gateway to human rights on the web
Human Rights Watch
Huridocs (Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems International - gateway to human rights information on the web
Interights - International Human Rights Law Centre
Statewatch - organization monitoring Civil Liberties in UK and Europe
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and a list of useful links from the same office
United States Institute of Peace
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
www.asylumsupport.info

Company Law & Insolvency

ABI World - Bankruptcy Information
Bank of England
Department of Trade and Industry Company Law Review
Financial Times
HM Treasury

Criminal Justice

Law Reports & Legislation

Law Reports

These are sites where judgments are freely available to the public - please check the list of databases above for more specialised sources.

BAILII - British & Irish Legal Information Institute - High Court and Court of Appeal Decisions since 1996. Can be searched by keyword
The Court Service - a limited number of judgments are available here
Daily Law Notes - Summaries of recent UK Court Cases, including House of Lords decisions on leave to appeal
Employment Appeal Tribunal - recent judgments
Judgments of the House of Lords - since 14th November 1996
Northern Ireland Courts Service
Privy Council - Judicial Committee
Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674 - 1834 - accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials
Scottish Courts Website - contains selection of opinions from Supreme and Sheriff Courts
The Times Internet Editions - includes the law reports and has a searchable archive

Legislation

UK Statute Law Database - Official revised (amended) edition of primary legislation
Acts of the UK Parliament - Full text of HMSO's unamended version
Scotland Legislation - HMSO site with the unamended full text of all the Acts of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish statutory Instruments
UK Statutory Instruments - Full text of HMSO's unamended version
Wales Legislation Online - Analysis of primary and secondary legislation

International Courts

Government & Judiciary

10 Downing Street
British Monarchy - the official website
Cabinet Office
Census 2001
The Court Service
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Crown Prosecution Service
Information Commissioner's Office
Esp@cenet - patent information service at the UK Patent Office
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
HM Treasury
HMSO - Her Majesty's Stationery Office, including full text Acts of Parliament
Law Commission
Lord Chancellor's Department
National Archives
National Assembly for Wales
National Statistics - the official UK statistics site
NDAD - UK National Digital Archive of Datasets
NHS Direct - gateway to health information on the internet
Northern Ireland Assembly
Official Documents from the Stationery Office
Oultwood Local Government Index
Scottish Executive
Scottish Law Commission
Scottish Parliament
The Stationery Office
Tagish - directory of UK Government's Websites
Directgov - official Government Portal with wide range of public service information
UK Parliament - including full text debates in the two Houses
UK Political Parties

International Organisations

Commonwealth Secretariat
Council of Europe
European Union Homepages
International Committee of the Red Cross
International Labour Organization
NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development
One World - good links to NGOs
OSCE - Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
United Nations
United Nations Statistics Division
United Nations Information Office - London
World Bank
WHO - World Health Organisation
WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organisation
WTO - World Trade Organisation

Electronic Journals

There are an increasing number of law journals appearing on the internet. US Law Reviews can be searched as a set at the Findlaw site, or at the University Law Review Project. The Library Catalogue also provides links to some law journals where we have a subscription.

Publically available law journals:

Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin
Cornell Law Review
Duke University School of Law Journals - various titles
E Law - Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law
East European Constitutional Review
Electronic Journal of Comparative Law
The European Journal of International Law
Hertfordshire Law Journal
Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies
Indiana Law Journal
International Journal of Communications Law and Policy
JILT - Journal of Information Law & Technology
Law, Social Justice and Global Development
Law Society Gazette
The Lawyer
National Journal of Sexual Orientation Law
The Student Law e-Journal - University of Glasgow
Web Journal of Current Legal Issues - University of Newcastle

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies List of Serials
e-journals relating to law - a comprehensive list from Stanford University

See this list of electronic law journals for titles available on Westlaw, Lexis and MetaLib.

Newspapers

This is a selection of newspapers that are freely available to the public - they are not Library subscriptions. Some carry Law Reports. You can also search a wide range of UK newspapers from the LexisNexisButterworths database .

Legal Education & the Legal Profession

American Bar Association
Association of Law Teachers
BIALL - The British & Irish Association of Law Librarians
BILETA - The British & Irish Legal Education Technology Association
Chambers and Partners Student Guide
Consilio.com
The General Council of the Bar
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
Institute of European Law
Institute of Legal Executives
JURIST - Law Professors on the web, including their Law School Webcasts
The Law Society
Lawyers on the Web
LawZone The online law community
Legal Hub Legal information and resources from Sweet and Maxwell including directories and information about legal employers
Legal Information Services at Warwick University and including the Law Courseware Consortium
Legal Practitioner - CPD for Lawyers
Linex Legal - legal update service with free registration for students using their university email address
Legal Services Ombudsman
Lex - for the lawyers of the future
Roger Horne's Miscellany - an interesting site maintained by a barrister
Society for Computers & Law
Society of Legal Scholars - formerly the SPTL
UK Centre for Legal Education

Legal Publishers, Bookshops, Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

Most publishers will have their own website, however there are a growing number of websites that are aimed primarily at legal practitioners and which provide a wide variety of information. Some of these are listed below.