Foreign, Comparative and International Legal Research

When researching a problem that involves private international law, you should seek to answer one or more of the below questions:  

• In which jurisdiction should the dispute be decided?
• Which jurisdiction's law applies?
• How should a foreign judgement be enforced?

Issues arising under private international law are typically concerned with the resolution of conflict of laws and determining which country's law is applicable to particular situations. The sources of law you may need to use to resolve these issues include International agreements, the substantive laws of each foreign jurisdiction involved, model laws, and possibly other instruments. 

As with most types of legal research, the best way to start is by consulting high-quality secondary sources. This box contains a short list of freely- available web resources for private international law research and a list of relevant books available via West Academic Study Aids. More robust sources on researching the laws of foreign countries can be found under the Foreign and Comparative Law Resources tab. 

United Nations Resources:

Books:

The United Nations (UN) is the primary governing body of international law, and its charter designates the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as the international law court for the entire world. Sources of public international law are listed under Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. The statute states:

1. The Court, whose function is to decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply:

1. international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states;
2. international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;
3. the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations;
4. subject to the provisions of Article 59, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations, as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law.

2. This provision shall not prejudice the power of the Court to decide a case ex aequo et bono, if the parties agree thereto.

From the statute, it is clear that the sources of law one may need to find when confronting an issue of public international law are treaties (International conventions), customary international law, general principles of law (foreign/comparative resources) and last, judicial decisions and publications from experts in the field. The most challenging source of law to research is likely to be international customary law, so a researcher on this matter should make a point to read one or more guides on researching this complex topic. 

As with most types of legal research, the best way to start is by consulting high-quality secondary sources. This box contains a short list of freely- available web resources for public international law research and a list of relevant books available via West Academic Study Aids. 

Research Guides:

Books: