United Kingdom Legal Research Guide

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

Locating Secondary Sources on Brexit

Brexit Bibliographies

Bibliographies are compilations of secondary source materials pertaining to a particular topic.  Most of the secondary sources compiled in the Brexit bibliographies described below were published prior to the 2016 referendum.  To locate secondary sources published subsequent to the referendum, scroll down to the sections on Finding Books and e-Books and Finding Journal Articles.

  • Brexit Debate Map -- Oxford Public International Law
    This compilation of secondary source materials focuses on the mechanics of leaving the EU, the impact on EU citizens living in the UK and British citizens living in EU member states, and the implications for UK public policy.  Direct links are provided to relevant journal articles, book chapters, UK government reports, legal analysis, and blog posts.
     
  • Reading List on UK-EU Relations 2013-2016 -- House of Commons Library
    This compilation of mostly pre-referendum (and some post-referendum) publications includes books; journal articles; news articles; reports published by the UK government and by the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland; think tank papers; and blog posts.  Direct links are provided to most content.  To download the reading list as a PDF document, open the HTML version your browser, scroll down, and click on the link next to the PDF icon.
     
  • Brexit "Thesaurus" (Bibliography) (4th ed., July, 2017) -- European Parliament
    This compilation of news articles, academic papers, think tank research, UK government documents, and EU documents related to Brexit was prepared at the request of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament.  Content is organized by subject, and direct links are provided to most documents. 
     

Books & e-Books

To locate books about Brexit and its impact from the Georgetown Law Library's collection, use the Advanced Search and select Law Library Catalog.  Then select Title as the search field and enter the word Brexit in the search box.

For a broader search, use the default Any Field setting instead of searching in the Title field.  For a narrower search, use the first line to search for Brexit in the Title field and use the remaining lines to search for additional words or exact phrases using the default Any Field setting.  To search across the holdings of all Georgetown libraries and other local academic libraries, select WRLC (Georgetown U. + Consortium) instead of Law Library Catalog.
 

Journal Articles

To locate scholarly articles that discuss Brexit and its impact from a legal perspective, search a law journal index, such as LegalTrac or Legal Periodicals and Books.  Or use a full-text law journal database, such as those found on HeinOnline, Kluwer Law Online Journals, Lexis, and Westlaw.  SSRN is a good source for emerging scholarship and NGO working papers.

To restrict your search for scholarly articles to journals published in UK, use the following resources:

  • Cambridge Core
    Search for all types of content, including journal articles, published by Cambridge University Press.  After running a search, use the filters on the left to limit by content type, subject, journal name, and date.
     
  • Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
    Be sure to select "Country of Publication" from the search field menu and then enter UK in the adjacent search box.
     
  • Legal Journals Index
    This Westlaw database indexes articles published in UK law journals and in English language law journals published elsewhere in Europe.  Note that not all of these article are available in full text on Westlaw.
     
  • Oxford Academic Journals Online
    Full-text database for journals published by Oxford University Press.  After running a search, use the filters on the left to limit by article type, subject, journal name, and date.
     

If you already have a citation to a journal article, use the resources described below to retrieve the full text.  Keep in mind that electronic access to full-text articles varies by journal.  Some journals are available on multiple electronic platforms, but the dates of coverage often vary.  If the article you are seeking falls outside the dates of coverage for electronic access, you will need to access the journal in print, if available, or request a copy of the article via Inter-Library Loan.

  • Search by Citation
    If the article you are seeking is available in an electronic format from any Georgetown University library, you should be able to quickly retrieve the full text of the article by entering the citation information into this online form.
     
  • Journal Finder
    If the Search by Citation tool fails to retrieve the full text of the article you are seeking, search for the name of the journal in which the article was published in the Journal Finder.  If the Georgetown Law Library has the journal in print, the Journal Finder will display print holdings and dates of coverage.  It also willing display electronic holdings for the journal, along with the dates of coverage, for all Georgetown University libraries.
     
  • Inter-Library Loan
    If the article you are seeking is not available print from the Georgetown Law Library, or in an electronic format from any Georgetown University library, you may request a copy of the article from another library by using the Inter-Library Loan (ILL) service.