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Georgetown Law Library

United Kingdom Legal Research Guide

This in-depth guide will help researchers navigate legal materials for the United Kingdom.

Legal Dictionaries

Although UK lawyers share a common language with their American counterparts, they sometimes employ different terminology. For example, insider trading is known as insider dealing in the UK.

To avoid confusion and misunderstanding when conducting UK legal research, consult these UK legal dictionaries:

British Spelling

When searching for materials published in the UK, be mindful of variations in spelling between British English and American English. These seemingly minor differences can have an enormous impact on search results.  

To conduct a thorough search for books or articles about labor law in the UK, for example, you should include both the British and American spellings ("labour law" OR "labor law").

For an authoritative analysis of variations in usage and spelling among English-speaking countries, consult the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary (Call No, REF PE1625 .O87 1989), which is also available online.