Comparative Constitutional Law Resource Guide
Introduction
Constitutions and Background Materials
Cases
Codes and Legislation
Treatises and Practice Guides
Study Aids
Searching SCHOLAR and OhioLINK
Journal Articles and Current Awareness Services
Databases and Other Web Resources
Introduction
Comparative Law examines legal theories and systems by comparing them to one another. Such studies became important as nations started to resolve internal and external conflicts of law through national uniform laws and international conventions. Today, Comparative Law is becoming increasingly important in regards to practical needs associated with the globalization of world trade as well as the harmonization of legal traditions and systems in the codification of law within the European Union.
Comparative Constitutional Law examines government structure and constitutional law in several different countries. Analyzing cultural and political aspects of constitutionalism, key concerns include the relationship between constitutionalism and written constitutions, government change and transition, court structures and judicial review, separation of powers, federalism, executive and legislative processes, individual constitutional rights, and social welfare. Comparative Constitutional Law study should help one to better understand different approaches to equitable, effective, efficient, and stable government.
Please contact the Law Library's Research Services librarians during their Research Services hours, or via email for help with locating or using any of the resources discussed in this guide.
Constitutions and Background Materials
U.S. Constitution
[Link via Cornell University Law School's Legal Information Institute.]
A Century of Lawmaking For a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates
Includes materials from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention as well as Statutes, Documents, Congressional Journals, and Congressional Debates. [Provided by the Library of Congress American Memory Web site.]
The Federalist Papers
Eighty-five essays, written between October 1787 and May 1788, by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. [Provided by the Library of Congress THOMAS Web site of federal legislative information.]
The Founders' Constitution
Web-based version, provided by the University of Chicago Press and Liberty Fund, of the multi-volume anthology edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner. Includes a wide assortment of documents, from the early 1600s to the 1830s, regarding constitutional government and the US Constitution, arranged by constitutional themes as well as by Articles and Clauses of the US Constitution and the Amendments.
FindLaw's Constitutional Law Center U.S. Constitution Materials
Analysis and annotations arranged by the US Constitution Articles and Amendments. Based on the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service 1992 document edited by Johnny H. Killian and George A. Costello, as well as the 1996 and 1998 supplements edited by Johnny H. Killian, George A. Costello, and Kenneth R. Thomas. Includes links to cited US Supreme Court cases.
Constitution Society's National Constitutions
Provides full text of constitutions of over 100 countries. Also includes historical constitutions and constitutional materials.
Georgetown University, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Center for Latin American Studies, Political Database of the Americas' Constitutions by Country
Provides full text of Organization of American States member states' constitutions "in the original language of composition."
University of Richmond School of Law's Constitution Finder
Provides full text of constitutions of over 195 countries. Also includes historical constitutions and constitutional materials.
Cases
Supreme Court of the United States
Includes docket, court rules, case handling guides, opinions (coverage begins in 2001), oral arguments (selected coverage begins in 2000), orders (coverage begins in 2000), and Supreme Court Journal (coverage begins in 1993).
Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute's Supreme Court Collection
Searchable database of opinions, with full coverage from 1990 to the present, as well as 600 historical decisions. Also includes calendar, schedule of oral arguments, judicial biographies, court rules, and several links to other Web-based materials.
U.S. Courts: The Federal Judiciary
The Administrative Office of the US Courts provides links to all U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and District Courts, PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) service center, and other federal court information.
Council of Europe's Constitutional Courts
Provides links to the constitutional courts of over 55 countries, as well as those of the Council of Europe, European Union, and Organization of American States.
LexisNexis Source Files:
Area of Law - By Topic: Constitutional Law & Civil Rights: Find Cases: Federal: Federal Constitutional Law Cases [Includes all US Supreme Court, US Courts of Appeal, and US District Courts cases, as well as cases from US Bankruptcy Courts, US Court of Federal Claims, Claims Court and Court of Claims, Courts of Military Appeals and Military Review, Customs Court, US Court of International Trade, US Tax Court, Tax Court Memos, Board of Tax Appeals, Commerce Court, and US Court of Veteran Appeals.]
See also individual source files in these LexisNexis Library sections:
*Area of Law - By Topic: International Law: Find Cases [Includes decisions and opinions from International Court of Justice, as well as Commonwealth and Irish, Australian Commonwealth, England and Wales, Scottish, European Union, European Court of Justice, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia and Brunei, and South African cases.]
*Federal Legal - U.S.: Combined Federal Court Cases
*Federal Legal - U.S.: Supreme Court Cases & Materials
*Federal Legal - U.S.: U.S. Courts of Appeal - By Circuit
*Federal Legal - U.S.: District Court Cases - By Circuit
Westlaw Databases:
See individual databases in these Westlaw Directory sections:
*International/Worldwide Materials [See case databases under listings for over 75 countries.]
*Topical Materials by Area of Practice: International Law [Includes WTO & GATT Panel Decisions and Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal Decisions, as well as International Court of Justice and International Criminal Tribunal cases.]
*Topical Materials by Area of Practice: Constitutional Law: U.S. Federal Cases [Includes Federal First Amendment and Death Penalty cases.]
*U.S. Federal Materials: Federal Cases & Judicial Materials: Judicial Materials: U.S. Supreme Court Databases
*U.S. Federal Materials: Federal Cases & Judicial Materials: Courts of Appeals Cases by Circuit
*U.S. Federal Materials: Federal Cases & Judicial Materials: District Court Cases Organized by Court of Appeals Circuits after 1944
See also Constitutional Law and International Law sections of KeySearch in Westlaw.
Codes and Legislation
LexisNexis Source Files:
Area of Law - By Topic: Constitutional Law & Civil Rights: Find Statutes, Regulations & Administrative Materials: USCS - Constitution of the United States (and) USCS - Public Laws
See also individual source files in these LexisNexis Library sections:
*Area of Law - By Topic: International Law: Find Laws by Country or Region [See statute, law, and legislative material files under listings for over 25 countries.]
*Area of Law - By Topic: International Law: Find Statutes, Regulations & Administrative Materials [Includes Canada, England and Wales, Russian Federation, Hungary, and Malaysia.]
*Federal Legal - U.S.: United States Code Service (USCS) Materials
*Federal Legal - U.S.: Legislative Histories & Materials
Westlaw Databases:
Topical Materials by Area of Practice: Constitutional Law: U.S. Constitution, Statutes & Legislation: United States Code Annotated (and) United States Code Annotated 2006
See also individual databases in these Westlaw Directory sections:
*International/Worldwide Materials [See statute, law, and legislative material databases under listings for over 75 countries.]
*Topical Materials by Area of Practice: International Law: Laws By Country [See statute, law, and legislative material databases under listings for Bermuda and Cayman Islands, as well as Commercial laws of Eastern and Central Europe and American Society of International Law International Legal Materials databases.]
*U.S. Federal Materials: Federal Statutes
*U.S. Federal Materials: U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News
Treatises and Practice Guides
Selected treatises in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library collection which provide a foundation in issues of Comparative Law include the following:
Comparative Constitutional Traditions / James T. McHugh / Peter Lang, 2002. K 3165 .M39 2002
Comparative Law in the Courtroom and Classroom: the Story of the Last Thirty-Five Years / Basil Markesinis. Hart, 2003. K 559 .M39 2003
Comparative Law: Law and the Legal Process in Japan / Kenneth L. Port and Gerald Paul McAlinn. Carolina Academic Press, 2003. KNX 68 .P67 2003
Comparative Legal Studies: Traditions and Transitions / Pierre Legrand and Roderick Munday, eds. Cambridge University Press, 2003. K 559 .C66 2003
Constitution Makers on Constitution Making : The Experience of Eight Nations / Robert A. Goldwin & Art Kaufman / American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research , 1983. K 3161 .A3 1983b
Constitutional Comparison: Japan, Germany, Canada & South Africa as Constitutional States / Francois Venter / Kluwer Law International, 2000. K 3165 .V46 2000.
Constitutional Justice under Old Constitutions / Eivind Smith ed. / Kluwer Law International, 1995. K 3175 .C665 1995
Core Questions of Comparative Law / Bernhard Grossfeld. Carolina Academic Press, 2005. K 559 .G75813 2005
The Enigma of Comparative Law: Variations on a Theme for the Twenty-First Century / Esin Orucu. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, c2004. K552 .O78 2004
Framing the Modern Constitution: A Checklist / Albert P. Blaustein et al. / A Philadelphia Constitution Foundation Book/Rothman, 1994. K 3168 .B56 1993
Legal Traditions of the World: Sustainable Diversity in Law / H. Patrick Glenn. Oxford University Press, c2004. K559 .G545 2004
Multinational Statutes Compared: a Research Guide to Statutes by Subject / Jon S. Schultz. W.S. Hein, c2003. K85 .S38 2003
On Common Laws / H. Patrick Glenn. Oxford University Press, c2005. K559 .G547 2005
Why Constitutions Matter / Niclas Berggren, Nils Karlson & Joakim Nergelius, eds. / Transaction Publishers, 2002. K 3171 .W49 2002
Study Aids
CALI (Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) Tutorials
Connect to the CALI Library of Lessons available to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Students. You must register a personal password with CALI to use the CALI tutorials. [If you are a Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Student, and have not yet accessed CALI via our Law School subscription, Students click here .] In particular, note the Introduction to Foreign Legal Research lesson.
Comparative Legal Traditions in a Nutshell, 3rd ed. / Mary Ann Glendon, Paolo G. Carozza, and Colin B. Picker. Thomson West, 2008. K 560 .G43 2008
Dictionary of International and Comparative Law / James R. Fox. Oceana Publications, 2003. KZ1161 .F69 2003 KZ 1161 .F69 2003
Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law / Jan M. Smits, ed. Edward Elgar Pub., 2006. K 48 .E42 2006
Searching SCHOLAR and OhioLINK
SCHOLAR is the electronic catalog for Cleveland State University's Law Library and University Library. CSU also participates in the state-wide consortia OhioLINK, which provides access to a state-wide central catalog and numerous research databases. For treatises and other materials, search the SCHOLAR and OhioLINK catalogs with the subject heading Comparative Law. See also Ethnological Justice and Law and Anthropology subject headings.
Journal Articles and Current Awareness Services
See the Finding Articles in Law Reviews, Journals and Other Legal Periodicals guide for an explanation of the legal periodical indexes and databases available to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law students and the CSU community. That guide covers print and electronic indexes, as well as electronic full-text journals. In particular, note OhioLINK's Electronic Journal Center and its Social Sciences - Politics, Political Science, and Law subject cluster.
Selected specialty journals and current awareness materials concerning Comparative Law in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library collection include:
American Journal of Comparative Law. American Association for the Comparative Study of Law. K1 .M47 & Electronic
Boston College International and Comparative Law Review. Boston College School of Law. K2 .O6742 & Electronic
Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law. Duke University School of Law. K4 .U4452 & Electronic
Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law. University of Georgia School of Law. K7 .E65 & Electronic
ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law. Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center. K1 .A117 & Electronic
Indiana International & Comparative Law Review. Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. K9 .N367 & Electronic
International and Comparative Law Quarterly. British Institute of International and Comparative Law. K9 .N749 & Electronic
Journal of Constitutional Law in Eastern & Central Europe. The Netherlands: Book World Publications. K 10 .O83527
Loyola of Los Angeles International & Comparative Law Review. Loyola Law School. K12 .O89 & Electronic
New England Journal of International and Comparative Law. New England School of Law. K14 .E77 & Electronic
Temple International and Comparative Law Journal. Temple University School of Law. K24 .E34 & Electronic
Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law. Tulane Law School. K24 .U394 & Electronic
Tulsa Journal of Comparative & International Law. K24 .U45 & Electronic
Databases and Other Web Resources
Chan Robles & Associates Law Firm's Virtual Law Library: Constitutional Laws of Nations of the World
Provides full-text of constitutional materials of over 130 countries.
Concourts.net - Visual representations comparing of systems of constitutional review in various countries. Powerpoint presentations and links.
Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute: Law about: International Law
Intute: Social Sciences: Law
Provides hundreds of links to materials and resources in international law, United Kingdom law, European Union law, and over 200 other countries.
Law Library of Congress: Global Legal Information Network
Provides "a public database of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations."
New York University School of Law's GlobaLex
Provides scores of links to materials and resources in comparative, foreign, and international law.
OhioLINK Research Databases: Law and Legislation
Includes LexisNexis Academic, PAIS International, Papers First, Proceedings First, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Organization of American States
Provides full-text of the OAS Charter, Executive Orders, Administrative Memoranda, Directives, Conventions, Declarations, treaties, and a wide assortment of other agreements.
Axel Tschentscher's International Constitutional Law
Provides full-text of constitutional documents of over 90 countries and general information on over 40 countries.
University of Michigan School of Information's Government Gazettes Online
Washburn University School of Law's Constitutional Law - International
Provides full-text of constitutional materials of over 25 countries.
World Legal Information Institute
Provides thousands of links to law-related databases and materials for hundreds of countries.
LER
1/2007; partial rev 9/8/09 MR