Legal databases

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Beck Online
Database of German legal materials, including the full BGB. Primary and secondary materials are available in full text.

Access: Requires personal registration and Oxford VPN.

Bepress Legal Repository (Berkeley Electronic Press) (External - SSO)
Working papers plus Issues in Legal Scholarship, Global Jurist and Theoretical Inquiries in Law.

Bopcris
In 2016 the documents previously accessed by BOPCRIS were transferred to the Internet Archive platform.

British Crime Survey: National Digital Archive of Datasets
Current and archived datasets in the British Crime Survey series. The survey provides a measure of the true extent of crime, and is used by the Home Office to complement statistics derived from crimes reported to the police.

British & Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)
Free cases from the UK Higher and Appeals courts c. 1996 - present.

D

De Jure
Italian legislation, court decisions and law journals.
Access: use institutional login details (SSO required to view).

Dispute Resolution Practice Area (i-law)
The Dispute Resolution Practice Area collection includes online access to 17 sources of commentary on commercial mediation and arbitration (eg latest edition of Briggs Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments, Arbitration Law Monthly) as well as forms and documents, legislation and practice notes.
Access: follow institutional login instructions (SSO required to view). There is a limit of 5 concurrent users to this resource. You may find you have to wait. Once you have finished your session, please log off properly as a courtesy to colleagues who may be waiting.

Directory of Open Access Journals
Provides access to scientific and scholarly electronic journals that are freely available on the web.

Dissertations & Theses
An OU mediated gateway to theses. Free/open access availability to the full-text of theses is an increasing feature.

Proquest's Dissertations & Theses (External - SSO)
A frequently used subscription service. A mix of full text and abstracts.

Doing Business Law Library
A free online collection of business laws and regulations with links to official government sources wherever possible. The database provides access to economic and regulatory indicators comparable across different jurisdictions with laws on topics such as banking and credit, bankruptcy, companies, labour, securities, taxation and trade.

H

Handbook of WTO/GATT Dispute Settlement Online (External - SSO)

Hansard (Westminster) 1803 - present
The official report of all Parliamentary debates. Find Members, their contributions, debates, petitions and divisions from published Hansard reports dating back over 200 years. Daily debates from Hansard are published on this website the next working day.

Harvard Research in International Law (External - SSO)
A subscribed library in HeinOnline.

HeinOnline (External - SSO)
Many useful libraries and collections, including:

• Law Journals (UK, US, Australian and International)

• English Reports (1220 - 1865)

• foreign and international law resources (UNTS, LNTS)

• Harvard Research in International Law

• legal classics

• Selden Society Publications

• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

History of International Law Collection (External - SSO)

A subscribed library in HeinOnline. Donated by legacy of Mr. Kazimierz Michalski.

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (External - SSO)
Sessional papers from 1715 - present. These papers can be found on Proquest Parliamentary Papers. 

HUDOC
Judgments from the European Court of Human Rights

J

Jean Monnet Center 
A collection of working papers from the Jean Monnet Center at NYU School of Law, established to promote teaching in European intergration in particular Law, Economics, Political Science and History.

JustisOne has now changed its name to VLex Justis

Juta Law (External - SSO)
South African legislation, law reports, and law journals. Also has Botswana Law Reports 1964 to 2013(1), Case Law Of Zimbabwe,  Namibian Law Reports, Tanzania Law Reports 1983 to 1997 and  Zambia Law Reports 1963 to 1997.
Access: SSO. Single-user access: please close your session when you have finished.

L

Law and Religion, Encyclopedia of (External - SSO)

Law of the Sea: Commentary on the UN Convention & UNCLOS 1982 Commentary Supplement (External - SSO)

LawInfoChina (now PKULaw) (External - SSO)
The home page is to the English section of the database, giving English translations of important laws, regulations and judicial cases. The majority of the content is in Chinese only. To find these databases of laws and regulations, judicial cases, law journals and special reference, click on the various tabs to left and right of that labelled English.

Law Reports: ICLR Cases Online (External - SSO)
ICLR Online has The Law Reports (referred to in citations as AC, QB, etc), Weekly Law Reports, Industrial Cases Reports and Business Law Reports.

Law Review Commons
A portal to legal scholarship available on the open web, the site brings together a growing collection of law reviews and legal journals in an easily browsable and searchable format. It contains both current issues and archival content spanning over 100 years from nearly 150 law reviews from North American law schools.

Legal History, Oxford International Encyclopedia of (External - SSO)

Legal History: The Year Books 
Year book reports printed between the years 1378 and 1535 and a large number from 1268 onward.

Legal Topics 
Law librarians of the US Library of Congress write reports on various legal topics, monitoring developments worldwide. The reports include commentary and recommendations to further resources. As of July 2014, reports are grouped under following subject areas: Banking and Finance; Constitutional Issues; Corruption and Money Laundering; Education, Family, and Children's Rights; Elections; Government Spending; Government Systems; Healthcare, Safety, and Bioethics; Immigration, Nationality and Citizenship; Indigenous and Cultural Property; Intellectual Property Rights and Ownership; Military; Minority Rights; Plants, Animals, and the Environment; Privacy Rights and Ownership; Religion and the Law; War Crimes and Terrorism.

Legislation.gov.uk 
UK primary legislation - good for historic legislation (do not rely on this site supplying current version of an act), secondary legislation from 1988 onwards.

Lexis+ UK (SSO)
One of the major UK legal databases including case law, legislation and commentary such as Halsbury's Laws of England. Also has selected foreign (principally common law tradition jurisdictions) and international content. Subscription sponsored by Norton Rose Fulbright. See our guides to LexisLibrary.

Linex Systems
Updates and reviews from over 1000 law firms and government organisations throughout the World.

LLMC Digital (External - SSO)
Law Library Microfilm Consortium's online service.

Lloyd's Law Reports
Lloyd's Law Reports covering commercial and maritime cases from 1919 - present available through i-law. A guide to this resource is available.
Access: Register for access using your Oxford email address. From the i-law homepage, select 'Login' and then 'Register here'. Access is restricted to 5 concurrent users so please log off at the end of your session.

Lloyd's Martime and Commercial Quarterly
Access: Register for access using your Oxford email address. From the i-Law home page, select 'Login' and then 'Register here'. Access is restricted to 5 concurrent users so please log off at the end of your session.

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National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts (NCJRS) (External - SSO)
Part of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. Includes summaries of US and international publications.

NATLEX 
International Labour Organization's database of national labour, social security and related human rights legislation.

Nineteenth Century Parliamentary Papers (External - SSO)
Available via UK Parliamentary Papers.

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PakistanLawSite
Legislation, case law and full text journals from Pakistan.
Access: use institutional login details (SSO required to view)

PKULaw.cn (External - SSO)
This link directs to the English section of the China law database, giving English translations of important laws, regulations and judicial cases. Most of the site's content is in Chinese only. To find these databases of laws and regulations, judicial cases, law journals and special reference, click on the various tabs to left and right of that labelled English.

PopLine: Population Law and Policy
Maintained by K4Health. Collects 'documents on formal positions, legislation or decisions taken by governments and other public bodies toward reproduction, contraception, migration, family size, and women's rights and status' in 'developing' countries.

Practical Law (External - SSO)
Covering 28 UK legal practice areas, Practical Law (formerly PLC) provides a range of resources including current awareness, practice notes, market analysis, and full-text access to PLC Magazine from 1990 onwards.
Access: SSO. If you have already logged into Westlaw UK, you can move into Practical Law by clicking the 'Thomson Reuters Westlaw' dropdown menu in the top left-hand corner and selecting 'Practical Law' on the drop down.

PreLex (now Lawmaking Procedures)
European Commission database mapping the major stages of the legislation making process between the EU Commission and other EU institutions.

Privacy Laws & Business
Developments in data protection law both international and UK.
Access: use institutional login details (SSO required to view). Use the 'Current subscribers click here to view this issue' link, and ignore the more obvious green buttons 'Subscribe' and 'Buy issue'. OU has a single-user licence only, so please remember to log off at the end of your session.

Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London 1674 - 1834

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Sabinet Reference (Sabinet Law Collection) (External - SSO)
African electronic journals.

Sabinet Netlaw (External - SSO)
Updated South African Principal Acts, Rules and Regulations from 1910 to the present. Our subscription does not include provincial legislation.

Selden Society Publications & History of English Law (External - SSO)
A subscribed library within HeinOnline.

SEMDOC: Statewatch European Monitoring and Documentation Centre (External - SSO)
Legislative observatory and database of material gathered over 30 years of independent charity's monitoring of EU Justice and Home Affairs 'allowing researchers to chart the history, development and nature of [Justice & Home Affairs] institutions, decision-making, policy, and law'.

Singapore Law Reports (External - SSO)
Available via Available via V-Lex Justis

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) (External - SSO)
The subscribed collections includes the Legal Scholarship Network, where you can find the University of Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper Series. Oxford University also subscribes to the Economics Research, Financial Economics and Management Research Networks. Non-subscribers are able to see abstracts of these articles, working papers, and preprints.

Social Sciences Citation Index on Web of Science (External - SSO)
Index of journals in behavioural and social sciences.

Society for Computers and the Law
Access to articles, webinars and news.
Access: free to UK academic institutions. Click to log on and choose the link for UK academic users under the login box.

State Papers Online: The Government of Britain I - IV 1509 - 1714 Foreign & Domestic (External - SSO)

• Part I: The Tudors, 1509-1603:SP Dom.

• Part II: The Tudors, 1509-1603:SP. For., Scotland, Borders, Ireland & Registers of PC Part III: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: SP Dom

• Part IV: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: SP For., Ireland & Registers of PC

State Trials 1163 - 1858 on JustisOne (External - SSO)
Available on JustisOne. This electronic collection of State Trials is compiled from the two most authoritative series of State Trials records, Howell's and the New Series (Macdonell's) and additional material sourced from the electronic version of the English (Nominate) Reports.

Supreme Court Cases (India)
Indian legislation and treaties, as well as case law from the Indian Supreme Court and the High Courts of the Indian states. It also has collections of primary sources from neighbouring jurisdictions. For example, case law from the Bangladesh Appellate and High Court Divisions.
Access: use institutional login details (SSO required to view). We have a 5 active users' licence, so please register only once with SSC(I) and as a courtesy to your colleagues, remember to log out of the database when you have finished your session.

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UK Parliamentary Papers (External - SSO)

United Nations Law Collection (External - SSO)
Available on HeinOnline. Includes full-text LNTS and UNTS.

United Nations Treaty Collection
Treaties and international agreements registered or filed and recorded with and published by the Secretariat since 1946.

UNBISnet: United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold Library
Catalogue of UN publications and documentation with links to full text where available.

UN-ODS
Official Document System of the United Nations.

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Westlaw AU (External - SSO)
Formerly known as Australia Law Online.  
Contains law reports, journals, legislation, and the Laws of Australia.

Westlaw Edge UK
Formerly known as Westlaw UK.
Access: SSO. On your first visit to Westlaw, you will be asked to register with your name and an email. Make sure your email address is an Oxford University one (ending in ox.ac.uk). After this initial registration, you can use your SSO to sign into Westlaw UK, but you will be able to use personalised features: save documents to folders, create a shelf of favourite books etc. For more information, see Westlaw UK's guide.

WIPO-Lex (CLEA Collection of Laws for Electronic Access)
Multi-jurisdictional database of intellectual property legislation and treaties provided by WIPO.

WorldLII
Free source of case law and legislation from various jurisdictions, international courts and tribunals. Includes a catalogue of free legal web sites organised by jurisdiction and subject.

World Trade Law (External - SSO)
The WTO Dispute Settlement Commentary (DSC) service is a comprehensive legal research tool for WTO dispute settlement. Features include summary/analysis of all reports/arbitrations; up-to-date keyword index; and a database of dispute settlement tables/statistics.

WTO/GATT Dispute Settlement Handbook Online (External - SSO)