Subject Librarian for Foreign & International Law:

Herb Somers
Foreign/International Law Librarian
202.994.5177
hsomers@law.gwu.edu

Research Guides:

Guide to Treaty Research
Guide to United Nations Research
Introduction to International Legal Research
International Human Rights Law

Research Aids:

An Annotated Guide to Selected International/Foreign Law Internet Resources

Databases:

ChinaLawInfo
Chinese language database from the Legal Information Center of the Peking University.  This is the sister database to LawInfoChina, an English language database from the same publisher.  ChinaLawInfo includes Chinese statutes and regulations plus secondary legal information such as judicial explanations, research articles of legal studies, book reviews, links to online Chinese legal journals, a directory of Chinese law scholars, and information about law making and law enforcement.
Remote access not available.

Constitutions of the Countries of the World
Online access to 187 country constitutions. Expert commentary from leading world scholars and English translations enhance the value of this database. Additionally, researchers have the capability to search for topics across nations.

Foreign Law Guide
This website, based on the original six-volume print reference source Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World, provides information about the legal systems of over 150 jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction includes an introductory essay regarding its historical legal developments along with references to the major codes, national gazettes and collections of laws and jurisprudence issued within the country. There is also a subject compilation of references to laws for each jurisdiction which include references to sources that provide English translations where available. If a particular source is available via the Internet, a link to the resource is included.
Remote access not available.

Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)
GLIN is a public database of official texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations. Maintained by the Library of Congress, this database includes primary legal materials for over 30 jurisdictions throughout the world. The legal texts are published in their original language in PDF format. Each document is accompanied by a short summary of the law in English. Subject terms are also assigned to each record in order to assist the searcher with locating additional relevant materials on a given topic.

InterAm Database
InterAm is an online database containing commercial, trade, investment legislation and other legal materials from 25 countries in the Americas developed by the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade. The site also includes access to Mexico's Diario Oficial de la Federacion from 1994 as well as other trade-related materials.

International Law Reports [Justis.com]
International Law Reports, searchable via the Justis platform, is the only source which provides a comprehensive  collection of decisions of international courts and arbitrators as well as the judgments of national courts (in English translation) on important international law issues. The keyword-searchable database covers all significant cases of public international law for the time period 1919 to the present and is an indispensable resource for the international law researcher.

International Business & Finance Daily (BNA)
Provides concise, comprehensive business news coverage and top-level financial reporting from reliable sources in the United States and around the world.

International Trade Daily (BNA)
Covers U.S. and foreign trade policy, with a focus on topics such as export incentives, financing, licensing, foreign investments, limits on imports, import relief, and adjustment assistance.

KluwerArbitration.com
(Access by using the International Business tab)
Arbitration database published by Kluwer Law International in conjunction with the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), and the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA).  KluwerArbitration.com is a fully searchable database allowing for targeted searches through its country index.  Coverage includes full text access to primary and secondary materials including legislation, case law, institutional rules, treatises, and commentary from authoritative sources such as ICCA publications and the ASA Bulletin.  Access to this database is available through the library's CCH subscription on the Intelliconnect platform; select Practice Tools then International Business.
Remote access not available.

LawInfoChina
English language database from the Legal Information Center of the Peking University.  This is the sister database to ChinaLawInfo.  LawInfoChina provides access to selected regulations from the People's Republic of China, basic laws adopted by the National People's Congress from 1949 onward, administrative regulations, rules, and orders, and local regulations and rules impacting foreign-related activities, technology investment incentives, and municipal economic development.  This database provides access to over 2,000 documents in 60 legal subject areas.  Most translations are performed by individuals at the Institution of Legal Translation Studies of the Peking University.
Remote access not available. 

Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law Online
A fully revised online Encyclopedia written by over 650 scholars and practitioners from around the world and edited by a team from the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. This online resource includes more than 700 new topics, not covered in the previous print edition, and will be updated quarterly. In addition to extensive search functionality and click-through cross references to other Encyclopedia entries, users will have access to the Oxford Law Citator. The Citator offers easy access linking to related content available in all new Oxford online legal services.

NAFTA Online

Oxford Reports on International Law
The Oxford Reports on International Law (ORIL) database brings together decisions on public international law from international courts and tribunals, as well as domestic courts and ad hoc tribunals. The database presently contains five modules: Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts, Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law, Oxford Reports on International Human Rights Law, Oxford Reports on International Courts of General Jurisdiction, and the Oxford Reports on International Investment Claims. Each case included in the five  modules contain  headnotes, a summary of case facts and the judicial holdings/arbitral decision or award, the full text of the opinion of the Court/arbitral tribunal, analytical commentary from scholarly experts, a list of cases and instruments cited , and finally, accurate translations into English of key passages of non-English decisions. The database also features the Oxford Law Citator which links the content of all Oxford Reports modules. Links from case reports and judgments lead to the Citator, which displays key details of a decision including: official and parallel citations; earlier or subsequent procedural stages; instruments and cases that are cited in, or have cited that decision; case reports and judgments in other modules of the Oxford Reports and entries for bibliographic references useful for further study.

Treaties and International Agreements Online
TIARA provides access to the full text of over 13,000 treaties and international agreements. It includes all treaties and international agreements ratified by the U.S., major treaties in the process of ratification, and all tax treaties, even those to which the U.S. is not a party. Basic and advanced searching options provide numerous access points to the data. PDF versions of the official texts of many of U.S. treaties are included that have been taken from sources such as Senate Treaty Documents, Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) and United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST).

United Nations Official Documents Online
As described by the site, "this is the official repository for documents published by the United Nations. The full text of documents dating back to 1992 is accessible in PDF in all official languages of the United nations - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Documents are stored in two databases, UN Documentation, which includes documents back to 1992 and UN Resolutions, which includes resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and Trusteeship Council since 1946."

United Nations Treaty Collection
The United Nations Treaty Collection is divided into three parts: The United Nations Treaty Series, Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General, and Texts of Recently Deposited Multilateral Treaties. The collection includes the text of every treaty and international agreement entered into by a member of the UN. The site also provides access to the League of Nations Treaty Series (LNTS) and other treaty-related materials issued by the United Nations.

World Intellectual Property Report (BNA)
World Intellectual Property Report provides monthly news and analysis of developments in the regulation and enforcement of intellectual property rights worldwide.

WorldTradeLaw.net: Dispute Settlement Commentary
 A comprehensive website containing full-text of GATT?WTO instruments, Appellate Body Reports, and links to international trade news resources. GWU students, staff, and faculty have access to the Dispute Settlement Commentary (DSC) service. According to the site, it "is a comprehensive legal research tool for WTO dispute settlement. Features include summary/analysis of all reports/arbitrations; up-to-date keyword index; and a database of dispute settlement tables/statistics."

WTO Reporter (BNA)
Daily news publication providing targeted, timely coverage of the activities of the World Trade Organization in Geneva.