Where's the FCIL? Foreign Case-Law Databases
I've been reviewing available sources of foreign case law in the original languages and in English translation. I started with the databases to which law students and faculty would already have access - LexisNexis and Westlaw.
With LexisNexis, that nice file that just had foreign primary law seems to be gone, but the countries for which there is caselaw are: Australia, Canada, China (I somehow found the LNCHNL file), Commonwealth, England & Wales, Hong Kong, India (not updated), Ireland, Israel (Supreme Court), Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore (but this may have been removed), South Africa (constitutional and tax cases), United Kingdom. Westlaw has Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and the UK. Both database have good coverage for major common law jurisdictions. Disturbingly, the first iteration of the WestlawNext interface does not include "international" and neither does LexisNexis for Microsoft Office.
So, where's the FCIL/beef? :-) Some of it is in WorldLII. The free public access to law movement sites such as AustLII, SAfLII, and CommonLII provide access to caselaw for several more common law juridictions. Dates of coverage vary for the LIIs. AsianLII, with access to Japanese case-law, looks promising for non-common law jurisdictions.
Other free governmental portals such as Legifrance and individual court websites provide added access to foreign case-law. And subscription databases such as vLex, iSinoLaw, ChinaLawInfo/LawInfoChina, Manupatra, Nevo, Juris, etc.
Several sites provide English translations of foreign case law - some are at individual court's websites (particularly the constitutional courts), others are provided by institutions - the European Commission for Democracy Through Law's CODICES database, the French, German, Israeli, and Austrian case translations of the Institute for Transnational Law.
When it comes to English translations, especially of recent cases, or even detailed legal commentary in English, there really is not much beef there. And there are not many sources for finding foreign cases by topic. Justis' International Law Reports database includes English translations of foreign cases concerning public international law issues. There's European Commercial Cases. CODICES again for constitutional case-law. What else? Where's the FCIL? :-)
With LexisNexis, that nice file that just had foreign primary law seems to be gone, but the countries for which there is caselaw are: Australia, Canada, China (I somehow found the LNCHNL file), Commonwealth, England & Wales, Hong Kong, India (not updated), Ireland, Israel (Supreme Court), Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore (but this may have been removed), South Africa (constitutional and tax cases), United Kingdom. Westlaw has Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and the UK. Both database have good coverage for major common law jurisdictions. Disturbingly, the first iteration of the WestlawNext interface does not include "international" and neither does LexisNexis for Microsoft Office.
So, where's the FCIL/beef? :-) Some of it is in WorldLII. The free public access to law movement sites such as AustLII, SAfLII, and CommonLII provide access to caselaw for several more common law juridictions. Dates of coverage vary for the LIIs. AsianLII, with access to Japanese case-law, looks promising for non-common law jurisdictions.
Other free governmental portals such as Legifrance and individual court websites provide added access to foreign case-law. And subscription databases such as vLex, iSinoLaw, ChinaLawInfo/LawInfoChina, Manupatra, Nevo, Juris, etc.
Several sites provide English translations of foreign case law - some are at individual court's websites (particularly the constitutional courts), others are provided by institutions - the European Commission for Democracy Through Law's CODICES database, the French, German, Israeli, and Austrian case translations of the Institute for Transnational Law.
When it comes to English translations, especially of recent cases, or even detailed legal commentary in English, there really is not much beef there. And there are not many sources for finding foreign cases by topic. Justis' International Law Reports database includes English translations of foreign cases concerning public international law issues. There's European Commercial Cases. CODICES again for constitutional case-law. What else? Where's the FCIL? :-)
posted by Lyonette Louis-Jacques at 1:15 PM
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