LibGuides: Foreign and International Legal Research: Getting Started with Foreign & International Legal Research

International & Foreign Jurisdiction Legal Research

What is FCIL?

Foreign law is the law of a foreign government

Comparative law involves comparing legal traditions

International is the law between governments (public) and individuals (private)

Law

Want to learn more about FCIL Research?

International and Foreign Legal Research in a Nutshell

Secondary Sources

While approaching FCIL research will lead you to some new resources, you will be able to recycle many of your US legal research skills. Just like with US legal research, get off and running using FCIL secondary sources which

provide background on and context to your legal research topic
include footnotes with citations to primary law and additional sources (mine those footnotes!)

To learn more about tracking down secondary sources, take a look at:

Secondary Sources: Legal Encyclopedias, A.L.R.'s, Treatises, Restatements, Topical Services, Periodicals, and Everything Else
by BC Law Staff Last Updated Jul 31, 2025 456 views this year

International Law Treatises

International Law Frameworks by David J. Bederman
Principles of Public International Law by Ian Brownlie
Call Number: KZ3225 .B76 A37 2008
International Law: Politics and Values by Louis Henkin
Call Number: KZ3110.H44 A35 1994
International Lawyer's Deskbook by Lucinda A. Low et al.
Call Number: K559 .I57 2002
Restatement of the Law, Third: The Foreign Relations Law of the United States by Louis Henkin; American Law Institute Staff
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
Full text is available online on the website of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.

Deciphering Unfamiliar Legal Abbrevaitions

While you are looking at FCIL secondary sources, you may find citations which are unfamiliar and may not be in the Bluebook. To decode the citations, try

Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
Search abbreviations for English language publications from over 295 jurisdictions.
Bluebook Table 2 Foreign Jurisdictions
Foreign jurisdiction legal material abbreviations. Available online without a subscription.
Google Home Page
Google’s search engine does a remarkable job of actually putting the specific item you are looking for at the head of the search results.

A full text search in legal databases, particularly in law review articles, to see if you can find more information about the citation:

Westlaw
Westlaw is a comprehensive legal research system that includes case law, annotated statutory codes, regulatory materials, and secondary sources. (Personal Password Required)

Personal passwords are restricted by our contract to currently enrolled law students and law faculty only.
Lexis
Lexis is a comprehensive legal research system that includes case law, annotated statutory codes, regulatory materials, and secondary sources. (Personal Password Required)

Personal passwords are restricted by our contract to currently enrolled law students and law faculty only.
vLexJustis
Collections of common law and civil law content in a single intuitive search platform. Includes over 120 million legal information documents from over 130 jurisdictions, including UK and Ireland, Europe and the EU, Caribbean, Latin America, Asia and Oceania, and North America. Also includes Vincent, an artificial intelligence/machine learning tool that provides research/document analysis. (BC Law Library access)

Access is limited to current members of the BC Law School community.
HeinOnline
HeinOnline provides access to law journals with retrospective coverage and many pre-1980 titles not available in other databases; also includes the Federal Register, a Legal Classics Library of treatises, a Treaties and Agreements Library, and additional federal resources. Materials are available as pdf images and as searchable text files. Additional titles and years added regularly. (BC Access)

BC Access: Resource is available via computers connected to the BC network. Off-campus access requires a BC username and password, and is available to the BC Community only (current students, faculty and staff.)

Foreign and International Legal Research

Research Help

Find Books & Other Materials at BC

International & Foreign Jurisdiction Legal Research

Secondary Sources

International Law Treatises

Deciphering Unfamiliar Legal Abbrevaitions