The English language site of the Constitutional Court of South Korea provides links to supreme and constitutional courts of individual countries arranged by continent.
There are also links to a few selected international tribunals and five Korean government Web sites that provide resources in English, including the Ministry of Government Legislation (Korea Law in English)
http://english.ccourt.go.kr/
Click on “Legal Links” from the homepage.
Afghan Law Bibliography posted on the Afghan Analyst Web Site.
Afghanistan Law Bibliography
January 2011
Tim Mathews (University of Maine Law School)
http://afghanistan-analyst.org/Documents/AfghanistanLegalBibliography.pdf
“This bibliography is divided into eight sections.
1.References. Guides other than academic or research articles that provide broad background information
2.Afghan Law, In General. Broad topics related to Afghan legal systems and legal history
3.Customary Law. Afghan customary law and history
4.Islamic Law, In General. Articles focusing upon Sunni jurisprudence in both international and domestic areas of law
5.Islamic Law in Afghanistan. Articles focusing on Islamic law as applied in Afghanistan, to include functioning of courts of Sharia
6.State Codes and State Legal System. Functioning of state courts, administrative processes, and discussion of state codes
7.Constitution: Drafting and Law. Articles discussing Afghan constitutional law, constitutional drafting, and related issues
8.Rule of Law and Policy Issues. Post-conflict reconstruction, transitional justice, human rights, and security issues relevant to the legal system.”
Italian Journal of Public Law
http://www.ijpl.eu/
Current issue and archives are available free of charge.
From the journal description:
The Italian Journal of Public Law IJPL was established in 2009 by a small group of scholars based in several Italian universities, with the encouragement and support of scholars from other countries.
IJPL has the ambition to serve as a bridge between the Italian and other legal cultures and therefore encourages the submission of studies, comments and review articles from lawyers and social scientists from all over the world.
IJPL is interested in publishing pieces in all areas of public law, especially with regard to administrative and constitutional law. Both comparative and theoretical approaches are particularly welcomed.
The latest issue of the “German Law Journal” has an article about this journal , which includes links to other online Italian legal journals.
Giancinto della Cananea. On Bridging Legal cultures: The Italian Journal of Public Law.
11 German Law Journal 1281 (November 2010).
http://www.germanlawjournal.com/
SSRN has posted an article on the use of foreign law by constitutional and supreme courts. The author looks at the use of foreign law in constitutional law cases by courts in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, South Africa, and Switzerland. The article is only available in Spanish.
The Use of Foreign Decision by Constitutional Courts – A Comparative Analysis
Rodrigo Brito Melgarejo
In Dret, Volume 2 (2010)
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1639031
http://www.indret.com/pdf/720_es.pdf
Abstract:
Despite the relevance of comparative law in constitutional adjudication has repeatedly been at the center of heated debates, in recent years, an increasingly transnational constitutional dialogue between justices has developed in many countries. Some members of a large number of constitutional courts have embraced the possibility of considering the constitutional decisions of other nation’s courts because the potential benefits of comparative constitutional learning are many. Considering other national court decisions or explaining disagreements with them, for example, may stimulate judges to rethink principles or priorities in ways that alter their own constitutional perspective and to find new valuable arguments that renew its own stock of constitutional ideas.
This paper aims at analyzing the way some constitutional courts are using foreign decisions in constitutional interpretation and tries to demonstrate that comparative constitutional reasoning tends every day more vigorously to universality.
Interesting article comparing fundamental rights, judicial review, and parliamentary supremacy in Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Britain.
The Common Law and the Constitution as Protectors of Rights in Australia
Anthony Gray (University of Southern Queensland)
39 Common Law World Review 119 (2010)
Available online via LexisNexis.
Article available on SSRN:
Staying Alive: Public Interest Law in Contemporary Latin America
Stephen Melli
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1518002
Abstract:
This paper explores the current state of public interest lawyering in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Based on a series of open-ended interviews with lawyers, judges and social movement activists, it compares public interest lawyering in these countries now with how it was practiced when the author interviewed some of the same individuals in the early to mid 1990s. Its analysis is set within the context of important geopolitical and socio-legal phenomena: the current global economic crisis and the judicialization of politics and constitutionalization of rights that has swept across the region over the past two decades. The paper explores how these developments have influenced public interest lawyers, particularly in their interactions with various social movements. It also highlights the opportunities and challenges that these developments pose for public interest lawyers throughout Latin America.
Christopher Hodges, Stefan Vogenauer and Magdalena Tubilacka have published the following article on SSRN: Costs and Funding of Civil Litigation: A Comparative Study.
Costs and Funding of Civil Litigation: A Comparative Study
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1511714
Countries studied are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England and Wales, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, USA.
The Appendices look very interesting
I. Questionnaire 49
II. Contributors to the Comparative Study 53
III. Ranges of Lawyers’ Hourly Rates 55
IV. Case Studies: Minimum costs risk for claimant 58
V. Summaries of amounts of Court Fees and Lawyers’ Fees 73
VI. Success and Contingency Fees 81
VII. Abbreviations 83
Bain and Company and the Brazilian Law Firm of Tozzini Freire Advogados authored a multi-part comparative study of oil and gas production regimes around the world. The study was produced for Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social) to help Brazil design a scheme to develop its large offshore oil reserves. The study is published exclusively in Portuguese, but the charts and bibliographies will be useful to all. The study constitutes of the following 4 reports.
RELATÓRIO I – REGIMES JURÍDICO-REGULATÓRIOS E CONTRATUAIS DE E&P DE PETRÓLEO
Report 1: Legal and Regulatory Arrangements and Contracts For Oil Exploration & Production
557 pages
RELATÓRIO II – FUNDOS FINANCEIROS BASEADOS EM RECEITAS DE PETRÓLEO E GÁS
Report 2:Financial Funds Based on Income from Oil and Gas Receipts (Sovereign wealth funds, etc.)
170 pages
RELATÓRIO III – DESENVOLVIMENTO DA CADEIA PRODUTIVA DE PETRÓLEO E GÁS E INVESTIMENTOS EM E&P
Report 3: Development of the Chain of Production of Investments in Oil and Gas Exploration.
473 pages
ESTUDOS DE ALTERNATIVAS REGULATÓRIAS, INSTITUCIONAIS E FINANCEIRAS PARA A EXPLORAÇÃO EPRODUÇÃO DE PETRÓLEO E GÁS NATURAL E PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO INDUSTRIAL DA CADEIA PRODUTIVA DE PETRÓLEO E GÁS NATURAL NO BRASIL
Studies of Regulatory Institutional and Financial Alternatives for Oil and Gas Exploration and the Development of the Chain of Production for Oil and Natural Gas in Brazil.
238 pages
All four reports are available full-text at:
http://www.tozzinifreire.com.br/portugues/Noticias/arquivos092009.php
http://www.tozzinifreire.com.br/portugues/Noticias/index.php
Hap tip to attorney Luiz Antonio Maia Espínola de Lemos who helped author the reports and posted them on the Tozzini Freire Web site.
Muito obrigado!
Hap tip to Ben Jones for pointing out that these are unofficial translations.
Japan’s Ministry of Justice has a new Website that offers unofficial English translations of thousands of Japanese statutes and regulations. The site provides bilingual versions of the laws and regulations. It also includes lexicographic notes explaining the translation of difficult terms. Here is an example of Article 1 of the Copyright Act of 1970:
目的）
(Purpose)
第一条この法律は、著作物並びに実演、レコード、放送及び有線放送に関し著作者の権利及びこれに隣接する権利を定め、これらの文化的所産の公正な利用に留意しつつ、著作者等の権利の保護を図り、もつて文化の発展に寄与することを目的とする。
Article 1 The purpose of this Act is to provide for, and to secure protection of, the rights of authors, etc. and the rights neighboring thereto with respect [copyrightable] works as well as performances, phonograms, broadcasts and wire-broadcasts, while giving due regard to the fair exploitation of these cultural products, and by doing so, to contribute to the development of culture
The site’s bilingual dictionary is a wonderful resource that not only provides translations, but also links to statutes and regulations that use a specific term or phrase.
Japanese Law Translation
West’s Legal Ed Center has a free video program called “Filming Legal Cultures: French and American Civil Procedures Compared” in which U.S. and French judges and practictioners dicuss the differences between American and French civil litigtaion. In addition to the video discussion, the site also provides handouts.
https://westlegaledcenter.com
Program Description:
As more and more French companies conduct business in the United States, they face the possibility of being sued. U.S. companies conducting business in France face a similar possibility in France. It is difficult for them to grasp the nuances of working within these two very different legal systems. It is easier to learn about the law than to comprehend the culture of a foreign court. This innovative project seeks to make such understanding possible through the use of images.
Judge Antoine Garapon, head of the Institut des Hautes Études sur la Justice in France and author of Juger en Amérique et en France, along Daniel Schimmel, an American litigator with Shearman and Sterling will explore some of the intricacies of the two systems in a completely new manner. Their analysis of images of both French and American civil trials will show how practitioners, companies, academics, judges, and others working in a global environment can reach a better understanding of U.S. and French legal cultures.
