The electronic resources listed below provide access to codes, legislation, and regulations from a single jurisdiction. Some of them are free databases maintained by a national legislature or a government ministry. For most non-English speaking jurisdictions, only those free resources that offer at least some content in English translation have been included.
For links to government websites offering open access to legal information in the language of the jurisdiction, consult The Foreign Law Guide, the Law Library of Congress's Guide to Law Online, GlobaLex, and the World Legal Information Institute.
Also included are subscription legal research platforms provided by the Georgetown Law Library that focus on jurisdictions outside the U.S. and jurisdiction-specific foreign legislation databases available to academic users of Lexis and Westlaw. Note that not all of the foreign legislation databases offered by Lexis and Westlaw are included in the Law Library's academic subscriptions.
| Australia | Federal Register of Legislation This database, maintained by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, provides free access to current federal (a/k/a commonwealth) statutes (acts in force) and regulations (legislative instruments in force), as well as pending legislation (bills as introduced). Visit the Help & Resources page to learn more about legislation in Australia and to access tips on searching the database, as well as a glossary of legislative terminology. Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) AustLII provides free online access to legislation and regulations enacted by Australia's federal (a/k/a commonwealth), state, and territorial governments. To search or browse, begin by selecting the desired jurisdiction from the menu. After the page refreshes, select the desired type of legislation or regulation from the list on the right side of the screen. To search more broadly for legislation or regulations enacted in all Australian jurisdictions, use the Advanced Search and check the appropriate box below the date filters. Consult the User Guide for additional information. |
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| Barbados | Barbados Law & Regulations This Westlaw database of laws and regulations currently in force is limited to commercial and tax law. |
| Canada | Justice Laws This database, maintained by Canada's Department of Justice, provides free access to current federal statutes (consolidated acts), federal session laws (annual statutes), and current federal regulations (consolidated regulations). The texts of consolidated acts and regulations incorporate all amendments and revisions made subsequent to their original enactment. For additional guidance, consult the FAQs page, the Search Help page, and the glossary of legislative terminology. All Canada Statutes & Legislation Lexis provides academic users with access to statutes, legislation, and administrative regulations at the federal level and in selected Canadian provinces. Scroll through the alphabetical list to select the desired content. Canada Legislation Academic users of Westlaw may access a database of legislation currently in force at the federal level, as well as separate databases of current legislation for each of Canada's ten provinces and three territories. |
| China (People's Republic of) | China Law Database This Lexis database includes English translations of more than 3,000 laws and regulations prepared by the editors of LexisNexis China Online and is regularly updated. Coverage focuses primarily on laws governing business enterprises, commercial and financial transactions, real property, intellectual property, insurance, customs, foreign trade, and foreign investment. LawInfoChina This subscription database provides full-text English translations of more than 1,000 primary laws and nearly 2,000 administrative regulations, supplemented by thousands of provisions, administrative measures, circulars, opinions, notices, and announcements. Many provincial and municipal regulations also are included. Translations are displayed side-by-side next to the original Chinese text. The Chinese language version of the database, known as ChinaLawInfo, has an even larger collection of un-translated legal texts. |
| France | Légifrance This free database, maintained by the French government, is the official public access point for legislation, regulations, and case law. The navigation and substantive content are only available in French. Westlaw Academic subscribers to Westlaw may access English translations of the French Code of Civil Procedure and the French Commercial Code. |
| Germany | Gesetze im Internet This free database, jointly maintained by the federal Ministry of Justice and a commercial publisher, includes all federal codes, statutes, and ordinances currently in force. Although the interface and most of the substantive content are in German, English translations of selected codes and statutes also are available. German Law Archive This free resource, hosted by Oxford University, provides English translations of selected German codes and statutes on a variety of civil, public, and criminal law subjects. |
| Hong Kong | Laws of Hong Kong The Lexis database includes full-text English translations of selected legislation prepared by the Bilingual Laws Information Service (BLIS) of the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The translations are regularly updated to reflect subsequent amendments and revisions as they are published in Hong Kong's official gazette. Hong Kong Legislation This Westlaw database includes English translations of ordinances, subsidiary legislation, and selected constitutional texts currently in force within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It also includes newly enacted legislation not yet in force. |
| India | SCC Online This subscription database includes acts, statutes, ordinances, rules, and regulations enacted at both the federal (central) and state levels, as well as case law and secondary sources. Note: First time users must register and create an account by entering their GULC email address as their Login ID. Returning users may select "IP Login" from the upper-right hand corner of the top level navigation menu and enter their GULC email address to log in. No password is required. |
| Ireland | Electronic Irish Statute Book This free database, maintained by the Office of the Attorney General, includes acts of the Orieachtas (Ireland's bicameral national legislature), regulations (statutory instruments), and the text of Ireland's constitution. Consult the FAQs page for background information and search tips. |
| Japan | Japanese Law Translation This free database, maintained by the Ministry of Justice, includes English translations of Japanese laws on a wide variety of subjects, as well as a Japanese-English dictionary of legal terms. Coverage includes laws currently in force and some that have been repealed. |
| Kenya | Laws of Kenya This free database, provided by the National Council for Law Reporting, includes both statutes (acts of Parliament) and regulations (subsidiary legislation). Browse the table of contents by subject or search by keyword. Consult the FAQs page for additional guidance. |
| Malaysia | All Malaysia Statutes and Legislation This Lexis database provides access to the Unannotated Statutes of Malaysia, which includes bills, principal acts, subsidiary legislation, and amendments enacted by Malaysia's federal parliament and published in the Federation of Malaya Government Gazette. It also provides access to the same content for two of Malaysia's sub-national states, Sabah and Sarawak. |
| Mexico | Mexico - Primary Law Academic subscribers to Lexis may access Mexico's official gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación), which publishes new federal laws and regulations chronologically as enacted. The content is only available in Spanish. |
| New Zealand | New Zealand Legislation This database, maintained by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, provides free access to current and prior versions of statutes (acts) and regulations (legislative instruments), as well as pending legislation (bills). Detailed instructions on how to search and browse the database are provided, as is a glossary of legislative terminology. |
| Russia | Russian Federation Primary Law Lexis's coverage of Russian primary law is limited to English translations of those portions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation that govern advertising, copyright, patents, and trademarks. Links to the original Russian texts in PDF format are provided. |
| Singapore | Singapore Statutes Online This free database, maintained by the chambers of the Attorney General, provides comprehensive coverage of current and historical statutes (acts of Parliament) and regulations (subsidiary legislation), as well as bills pending before Parliament. Consult the FAQs page for additional background information and the Online Guide for search tips. |
| South Africa |
Butterworth's Statutes of South Africa Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII) |
| South Korea (Republic of Korea) |
Korea Legislation Statutes of the Republic of Korea |
| Switzerland | Swiss Federal Council - Classified Compilation of Selected Federal Laws in English The executive arm of the Swiss Confederation provides access to English translations of selected federal acts and ordinances. Search by keyword or use the menu below the search box to browse by subject. For those able to read German, French or Italian, the following resources provide more comprehensive coverage: the Official Compilation of Federal Legislation, the Compilation of Federal Legislation Classified by Subject, and the Official Federal Gazette. To switch from German to French or Italian, use the language menu in the upper-right hand corner. |
| Taiwan (Republic of China) | Law & Regulations of the Republic of China This database, maintained by the Ministry of Justice, provides free access to hundreds of primary laws (acts) and secondary regulations in English translation. All legislative and regulatory texts are provided in their current (consolidated) versions, which incorporate any amendments and revisions made subsequent to their original enactment. |
| United Kingdom | Legislation.gov.uk This database, maintained by the UK's National Archives, provides free access to primary legislation (acts of Parliament) and secondary legislation (statutory instruments, orders of council, and orders in council) for the UK as a whole and for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It also includes bills currently pending before Parliament. Consult the User Guide for background information and search tips. A glossary of legislative terminology also is available. vlexJustis The legislative component of this subscription database includes primary legislation enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom (1707-present), the Parliament of England (1235-1706), the Scottish Parliament (1999-present), and the Northern Ireland Assembly (2000-present). It also also provides access to secondary legislation, including UK statutory instruments (1949-present), a collection of older statutory instruments (1671-1948), selected statutory rules and orders, and Scottish statutory instruments (1999-present). All UK Statutes & Legislation Lexis provides access to multiple UK statutory and legislative databases covering the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, and the Welsh Assembly, as well as statutory instruments (administrative regulations). UK Legislation This Westlaw database includes current statutes and statutory instruments in effect for the UK as a whole. It also includes the procedural rules of the Supreme Court of the UK and of many lower courts. Scots Legislation This Westlaw database covers all primary and secondary legislation currently in force in Scotland, including acts of the devolved Scottish Parliament and acts of the UK Parliament that are applicable to Scotland. |