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Researching European Law
Specialized Research No. 8 - Dorraine Zief Law Library Research Guide
Contents
- Finding Background: European Union & European Human Rights
- Major European Official Web Sites
- European Law on Lexis & Westlaw
- Finding Books and Articles about EU Topics
- Finding Primary Legislation: Key Treaties
- Finding Secondary Legislation
- Finding European Court of Justice & Court of First Instance Case Law
- Finding European Court of Human Rights Case Law
- Finding Laws of EU Member States
- Finding News & Current Awareness Sources
- Learning More about European Legal Research
Introduction
This Guide:
This guide is designed for students in European Union Law classes at the University
of San Francisco. The focus is on the European Union, but there is also a brief
section on the European Court of Human Rights. Because USF's Zief Law Library
has a relatively small selection of print materials on the EU, this guide emphasizes
the web, Lexis, and Westlaw. The materials in the final section "Learning More about
European Legal Research," have more research advice and resources.
[Members of the USF community: for advice specific to your research, speak to a librarian at
the Zief Law Library Reference Desk, or call 415-422-6773.]
Research Strategy:
A useful strategy for European Union research is to look first for relevant
scholarly books and articles with introductions, overviews, analyses,
and citations to pertinent treaty provisions, regulations, directives, decisions,
case law, etc. Section 4 of this guide discusses ways
to find useful books and articles.
[Return to Contents]
1. Finding Background: European Union & European Human Rights
For basic background on the institutions and law of the European Union,
and on the European Convention of Human Rights, start with the following books
and web sites. To find other books not listed here, search Ignacio
(http://ignacio.usfca.edu/) by subject "Law—European Union Countries"
or by subject "Human—Rights Europe."
European Union—Web Resources
European Union—Brief Introductions
Karen Davies, Understanding European Union Law, 3d ed. (Abingdon, Oxon [England];
New York: Routledge-Cavendish, 2007) KJE 949 .D38 2007 Law Stacks Trevor C. Hartley, European Union Law in a Global Context: Text, Cases, and
Materials (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
KJE 947 .H368 2004 Law Stacks Trevor C. Hartley, The Foundations of European Community Law: An Introduction
to the Constitutional and Administrative Law of the European Community,
6th ed. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, c2007) KJE 947 .H33 2007
Law Stacks Philip Marc Raworth, Introduction to the Legal System of the European Union
(Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications, 2001) KJE 947 .R39 2001
Law Stacks Norbert Reich, Understanding EU Law: Objectives, Principles and Methods of Community
Law (Antwerp; New York: Intersentia; Ardsley, N.Y: distribution for
North America, Transnational Publishers, c2003) KJE 947 .R45 2003
Law Stacks John Van Oudenaren, Uniting Europe: An Introduction to the European Union, 2d ed.
(Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, c2005) HC 241 .V352 2005 Law Stacks
European Union—Treatises and Encyclopedias
Hans Smit & Peter E. Herzog, Smit & Herzog on the law of the European Union
(Newark, NJ: LexisNexis Matthew Bender, c2005- ) KJE 947 .S64 Law Stacks. Four volumes,
organized by articles of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community.
The authoritative treatise on European Union law. Encyclopedia of European Union Law (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1996- )
KJE 4442.3 .E5 Law Stacks. Reproduces key treaties and other primary texts with brief
introductions. Covers treaties, institutions, ancillary texts, Union pillars. A.G. Toth, The Oxford Encyclopaedia of European Community Law (Oxford, England:
Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1990- ) KJE 926 .T67 Law Reference.
Brief essays with suggestions for further reading. Volume 1 covers "institutional law."
Volume 2 covers "law of the internal market." European Union Law Reporter (London, England: Sweet & Maxwell, 2001- )
KJE 925.6 .C65 Law Stacks. Volumes 1 to 3 contain commentary on EU law.
Human Rights in Europe—Brief Introductions
European Court of Human Rights, "The Court"
(http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/EN/Header/The+Court/The+Court/History+of+the+Court/) Pieter van Dijk, et al., eds., Theory and Practice of the European Convention on
Human Rights, 4th ed. (Antwerpen: Intersentia, c2006) KJC 5132 .T54 2006
Law Stacks Donna Gomien, Short Guide to the European Convention on Human Rights, 3d ed.
(Strasbourg: Council of Europe Pub., c2005) KJC 5132 .G66 2005 Law Stacks Clare Ovey & Robin C. A. White, Jacobs & White, The European Convention
on Human Rights, 4th ed. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press,
2006) KJC 5132 .J33 2006 Law Stacks
[Return to Contents]
2. Major European Official Web Sites
[Return to Contents]
3. European Law on Lexis & Westlaw
Lexis and Westlaw both have extensive collections of European legal materials.
Lexis
Follow this path in the "Legal" tab of the "Look for a Source" directory:
Find Laws by Country or Region > European Union.
(Note especially the folders for Treaties & International Agreements, Case
Law, and Legislation & Regulations)
Westlaw
Select the "Directory"
link, then follow the path:
International⁄Worldwide Materials > European Union
(At the bottom of screen, note especially the folders for: Cases; Legislation;
and Regulations.)
Westlaw's European Union Tab offers a basic selection of materials. To display the tab, select
"Add⁄Remove Tabs," scroll down to "Westlaw International,"
and select the "European Union" link. This Tab gives a choice of searching
one or more of: European Union Legislation (EU-LEG);
European Union Cases All (EU-CS-ALL);
European Union Preparatory Acts (EU-ACTS);
European Union Treaties (EU-TREATIES);
European Union OJ C Series (EU-OJCSERIES);
European Union Parliamentary Questions (EU-QUESTIONS).
[Return to Contents]
4. Finding Books and Articles about EU Topics
Books at USF
To find books at USF, search Ignacio (http://ignacio.usfca.edu)
by subject or key words related to your topic. Then, limit your search by words
in subject "European Economic Community" or "European Union"
(or, for broader results, limit to word in subject "Europ*"). This
general strategy will also work in the catalogs of most other academic law or
general libraries.
You can further limit your search to the location "Law Stacks" for books at the Zief
Library, or to "Stacks" for books in the Gleeson Library.
ECLAS: Catalog of the European Commission Library
ECLAS, the Catalog of the European
Commission Library (http://ec.europa.eu/eclas/F) includes citations to over 350,000 books,
articles, country studies, videos, maps, internet resources etc. owned or linked to by
the European Commission's Library.
Full-Text Legal Articles: Lexis & Westlaw
The United States, Canadian, and British full-text article collections on Lexis and Westlaw will
contain articles dealing with European Law.
Westlaw:
Journals & Law Reviews (JLR) and
United Kingdom Journals & Law Reviews (UK-JLR)
Lexis:
US & Canadian Law Reviews (Combined) (LAWREV;ALLREV) and UK
Law Journals (UK;ALLJNL)
Full-Text Working Papers
ERPA: European Working Papers Archive (http://eiop.or.at/erpa/). ERPA is an umbrella
site for scholarly working papers on European integration from a variety of
prestigious institutions, including the Jean Monnet Program at NYU School of Law.
Finding Citations to Articles Using Indexes
Indexes are tools to help researchers find citations to articles. Generally they do not contain
the full text of articles, but they do cover more journals and more years than
the full-text tools. Those who don't mind taking the extra step to find the
text will often find more articles by searching both indexes and full-text articles
than if they'd searched full-text articles alone. More information on using
indexes for research is available in the Zief Law Library research guide
Finding Law Review Articles (http://www.usfca.edu/law_library/finjou.html).
The following indexes are useful for European legal research:
Legal
Resource Index on Lexis (LAWREV;LGLIND) and Legal
Resource Index on Westlaw (LRI). Coverage: 1980 to the present.
On Westlaw, add the following to your search terms to limit your results to articles
about EU law:
and summary(jurisdiction pre/s european pre/s union or community)
On Lexis, add the following to your search terms to limit your results to articles
about EU law:
and jurisdiction(european w/s union or community)
Index to Legal Periodicals on Lexis (LAWREV;ILP) and Index
to Legal Periodicals on Westlaw (ILP). Coverage: 1981 to the present.
On Westlaw, add the following to your search terms to limit your results to articles
about EU law:
index(european pre/s union or community)
On Lexis, add the following to your search terms to limit your results to articles
about EU law:
and descriptors(european pre/s union or community)
ILP
Retro⁄Legal Periodicals Retro (http://www.usfca.edu/library/databases/legalindex.html),
1918 to 1981.
To limit your results to articles about EU law, include the following element in
your search:
"european economic community as subject(s)
Legal
Journals Index on Westlaw (LJI) 1986 to the present. "References
to or abstracts of articles from more than 430 legal journals published
in the United Kingdom and other European countries or covering topics pertaining
to the laws of the European Union and its member states."
Add the following to your other search terms to limit your results to articles about EU law:
and "ec law" or "eec law" or (european pre/2 community
or union)
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals on the web (follow link to IFPL at:
http://www.usfca.edu/law_library/lawarticles.htm). Coverage: 1985 to the
present. IFLP Leads to citations from law journals published around the
world in a variety of languages.
To limit your results to articles about EU law, include one the following in a key
word search, depending on the time-frame you are searching:
european union or european communities
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals in print, 1960 to the present, K 33 .I552
Law Reference
(at Hastings Law Library) European Legal Journals Index KJC 3.7 .E97
6th Stacks, 1993-1999. ELJI leads to citations to articles dealing with
both EC⁄EU law and the law of member states.
Non-Legal Articles from Gleeson Library
USF's Gleeson Library offers all sorts of tools for finding articles in non-legal disciplines
(such as politics, history, and economics) that might intersect with European
law. To see what's available, visit the Gleeson Library's "Start
Your Research" page at http://www.usfca.edu/library/research/.
[Return to Contents]
5. Finding Primary Legislation: Key Treaties
From the Official EU Web Site
EUR-Lex
Treaties page (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/index.htm).
Includes: Treaty establishing the European Community (consolidated text);
Treaty on European Union; Treaty of Nice; Treaty establishing a Constitution
for Europe. Also has links for "Founding Treaties," "Accession
Treaties," and "Other Treaties and Protocols." Europa's Constitution for
Europe page (http://europa.eu/scadplus/constitution/index_en.htm). Text of and information
about the (as-yet-unratified) Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe.
In Print at Zief
Encyclopedia of European Union Law (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1996-)
KJE 4442.3 .E5 Law Stacks. See volumes 1-3.
European Union Law Guide (New York: Oceana Publications, c1994- )
KJE 947 .E888 Law Stacks. See volume 1.
European Union Law Reporter (Chicago, Ill.: CCH Editions Ltd., c1962- )
KJE 925.6 .C65 Law Stacks. See volume 4.
On Lexis
EUR-Lex EU Law Database: Treaties (EUROPE;TREATY) is the most thorough source.
Includes "treaties establishing the European Communities, treaties amending
or supplementing the founding treaties and the accession treaties of new member
states. Also included are agreements and other legal acts resulting from external
relations maintained by the European Communities and by member states."
On Westlaw
European
Union Treaties (EU-TREATIES). Includes "treaties concluded between
the Member States, which constitute the legal framework of the European Communities.
These include the Founding Treaties, Accession Treaties, Supplementary Treaties,
and the Maastricht Treaty."
[Return to Contents]
6. Finding Secondary Legislation: regulations, directives,
decisions of the Council or Commission.
European Union "secondary legislation" (directives, regulations, and decisions) appears
in the Official Journal, L Series. USF law students have access to this legislation
via EUR-Lex, Lexis, and Westlaw.
From the Official EU Web Site
EUR-Lex, Portal to EU Law
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm). EUR-Lex includes
legislation (directives, regulations and decisions), pending legislation, treaties,
case law, direct access to the Official Journal L series and C series from 1998
forward, and more.
The Directory of Community Legislation
in Force (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/repert/index.htm) allows researchers to browse
for in-force legislation by category or topic.
SCADPlus (http://europa.eu/scadplus/scad_en.htm)
provides summaries of EU legislation organized by topic. Citations to texts of directives, regulations,
and other documents are given.
On Lexis
EUR-Lex EU Law Database: Legislation (EURCOM;LEGIS) includes secondary legislation
(directives, regulations, decisions) as well as content from the Official Journal
C Series. Coverage begins in 1952.
Sample searches:
For specific directives by citation: title(97/81/EC) and type(directive)
For specific regulations by citation: title(852/2004) and type(regulaton)
For specific decisions by citation: title(2002/811/EC) and type(decision)
For specific Official Journal citations:
cite("2004 OJ L 139") [omit page numbers]
To limit a search to directives: "part-time work" and type(directive)
To limit a search to regulations: food! and hygiene and type(regulation)
To limit a search to decisions: "genetically modified" and type(decision)
On Westlaw
European
Union Legislation (EU-LEG) contains regulations, directive, decisions, recommendations,
supplementary legislation, international agreements from the Official Journal
"L" series. Coverage begins in 1952.
Sample searches:
For specific directives by citation: citation(directive and 97/81/EC)
For specific regulations by citation: citation(regulation and 852/2004)
For specific decisions by citation: cite(decision and 2002/811/EC)
For specific Official Journal citations: citation("OJ 2004 L139/55")
To limit a search to directives: "part-time work" and citation(directive)
To limit a search to regulations: food! and hygiene and citation(regulation)
To limit a search to decisions: "genetically modified" and citation(decision)
In Print at Zief and Hastings
European Union Law Guide (New York: Oceana Publications, c1994- )
KJE 947 .E888 Law Stacks. This extensive guide reproduces selected directives,
regulations, and decisions and organizes them by topic.
Official Journal of the European Communities: Legislation (L Series) from 1973
to the present is available locally at the Hastings Law Library,
KJE 908 .O33 Ser.L 6th Stacks.
[Return to Contents]
7. Finding European Court of Justice & Court of First Instance Case Law
For USF law students, the most convenient ECJ case law sources are on Lexis and Westlaw. The Court's site is
also useful for searching cases from 1997 to present.
From the Court
Judgments of the Court of Justice and the Court of
First Instance are available via a
Numerical Access to Case Law page (http://curia.europa.eu/en/content/juris/index.htm)
that leads to lists sorted by date and case number.
For cases from June 1997 to the present, a
search form for Court judgments (http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en)
allows searching by key words, parties' names, case numbers and date.
On Lexis
EUR-Lex European Union Cases (EURCOM;ECJ). Comprehensive database of cases
for the Court of Justice (1954-) and the Court of First Instance (1989-).
Sample searches:
For specific cases by name: name("national farmers union")
For specific cases by case number: name(27/76) or name(c-241-01)
Also available:
European Court of Justice Cases Selected By Butterworths (EURCOM;CASES).
Selected Court of Justice cases from 1954 and Court of First Instance cases from 1989
to the present.
On Westlaw
European Union Case Law (EU-CS) (Court of Justice, 1954-; Court of First
Instance, 1989-)
Sample searches:
For specific cases by name: title("united brands")
For specific cases by case number: dn(27/76) or dn(c-241-01)
For specific cases by European Court Reports citation:
ci("[1978] ecr 207")
Also available on Westlaw:
Common
Market Law Reports (CML-RPTS). Coverage begins in 1962. Also includes selected
decisions of national courts of EU member states.
European
Union Case Law Locator (EU-CASELOC). Summaries of a court decisions including:
lists of citations for the case; lists of cases and legislation cited by the
case; histories of and citations to the case.
On Fiche at Zief
Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance.
Complete coverage on microfiche. Fiche Cabinet 30, Drawer 1.
In Print at Zief
Common Market Law Reports, KJE 925.5 C75 Law Compact Storage. The
Zief Library set ends with volume 50 (1987).
Common Market Reports⁄Common Market Reporter, court decisions,
KJE 923.7 .E97 Law Stacks. Selected cases, 1961-1983; 1985-1986. Continued by:
European Community Cases.
European Community Cases, KJE 923.7 .E97 Law Stacks. Selected cases
from 1989. The Zief Library's print set ends with 1999.
[Return to Contents]
8. Finding European Court of Human Rights Case Law
Most USF law students will prefer to search for ECHR case law using Lexis or Westlaw.
The ECHR's HUDOC search engine
is also useful for finding cases. (The European Convention on Human Rights is available on the
ECHR Basic Texts page:
http://www.echr.coe.int/Eng/BasicTexts.htm.)
One useful source for finding relevant cases is: A Systematic Guide to the Case-Law of the
European Court of Human Rights (The Hague; Boston: M. Nijhoff, 1996)
KJC 5132 .A52 S97 Law Stacks (1960-1994).
From the Court
HUDOC:
Databases of the Case-Law of the European Convention of Human Rights
(http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/search.asp?skin=hudoc-en)
is maintained by the European Court of Human Rights.
HUDOC is searchable by key word, case title, application number, respondent
state, and Convention article. Coverage begins in 1960.
On Lexis
Human Rights Cases (EURCOM;HRIGHT). Decisions of the European Court of Human
Rights from 1960 to the present and Butterworths Human Rights Cases (decisions
of international, European and English courts) from 1996 to the present.
Sample searches:
For specific cases by name: name(o'hara and "united kingdom")
For specific cases by case number: cite(37555/97)
On Westlaw
European Human Rights Reports (EHR-RPTS) (1979 to the present) (Also includes "selected
reports and decisions from the European Commission of Human Rights, as well
as settlements and resolutions of the Committee of Ministers.")
Sample searches:
For specific cases by name: title(o'hara and "united kingdom")
For specific cases by case number: dn(37555/97)
In Print
Locally, Hastings Law Library has official reports of the European Court of Human Rights:
Publications of the European Court of Human Rights. Series A, Judgments and Decisions
(1961-1996) KJC 5138 .A3 J73 6th Stacks
Reports of Judgments and Decisions (1996- )
KJC 5138 .A3 J74 5th Stacks
[Return to Contents]
9. Finding Laws of EU Member States
On EUR-Lex, the "bibliographic notice "
(summary information) for each directive contains a section headed "Display the national implementing
measures." In this section, select the "MNE" link to see citations to national laws
implementing the directive.
Lexis offers the very useful
EUR-Lex EU Law Database: National Provisions Implementing Directives (EURCOM;NATPRV).
This source does not have the full text of national laws, but it does contain citations researchers
can use to find these laws.
To search Lexis's "National Provisions Implementing Directives" source for cites to laws implementing
a specific directive, follow this model:
"Directive 2000/15/EC"
On Westlaw, the texts of directives in the
European Union Legislation (EU-LEG) database include, at the end, citations to national
implementing legislation.
For more advice on finding the national laws of the EU member states, see the Zief Law Library guide
Researching Foreign Legal Systems (http://www.usfca.edu/law_library/foreignlegal.html).
[Return to Contents]
10. Finding News & Current Awareness Sources
The following are just a few sources for finding news of the latest developments in the European
Union.
Web Sites & Blogs
Europa EU Press Room
(http://europa.eu/press_room/index_en.htm). Includes headline news, recent press releases,
press packs on major issues, and access to the RAPID daily press
releases (http://europa.eu/rapid/).
RAPID (http://europa.eu/rapid/)
database of press releases from the European Commission (1985 to present) a
nd of some other European institutions, such as the Court of Justice and the Council of the Union.
"Around Europe" sections of the
European Commission home page. The European Commission also has
news feeds
(http://ec.europa.eu/news/archives_en.htm) on various subjects, including: Economy, finance and tax;
Employment and social rights; Energy and natural resources; Environment, consumers and health;
External relations and foreign affairs; and Justice and citizens rights.
EuropeanVoice.com
(http://www.europeanvoice.com). Internet companion to the Economist Group's
European Voice weekly magazine. Some online news is available for free;
a paid subscription is required to view content from the weekly magazine.
EU Law Blog (http://eulaw.typepad.com/),
covering a wide variety of European Union legal topic.
ECJ Blog (http://www.ecjblog.com/). News and analysis
about the European Court of Justice by a Ph.D. candidate from the Netherlands.
[Dormant since December 2007.]
Westlaw
European
and C.I.S. News (EURONEWS). "News and information about Europe and
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including information from newspapers,
magazines, journals, newsletters, radio and television transcripts, and wires.
Coverage varies by source"
Lexis
EU
News (EURCOM;ECNEWS). A source "for European Union (Community) current
awareness" from a variety of publications.
[Return to Contents]
11. Learning More About European Legal Research
For more extensive information on researching European law, consult the following.
European Union Law: An Integrated
Guide to Electronic and Print Research (2007), Marilyn J. Raisch
(http://www.llrx.com/features/eulaw2.htm) European Union Law Information
Resources, Charlotte Bynum (http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/WhatWeDo/ResearchGuides/EU.cfm) European Union Legal Materials: An
Infrequent User's Guide (2005), Duncan E. Alford (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/European_Union.htm) European Union
Research, NYU Law Library (http://www.law.nyu.edu/library/euguide.html)
Research Guide - European Union, Hastings Law Library
(http://library.uchastings.edu/library/Legal%20Research/Research%20Guides/eu.htm) Foreign Law Guide: Current Sources of
Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World/), Thomas H. Reynolds &
Arturo A. Flores. Select "European Communities" from the "Countries &
Jurisdictions" pull-down menu. [Access for the USF law school community.] Best
European Law Web Sites, Ann R. Sweeney, Delegation of the European Commission to
the United States (http://www.eurunion.org/infores/BestLawSites.HTM) Guide to Researching
the Council of Europe, Anne Burnett (2000) (http://www.llrx.com/features/coe.htm) History,
Role and Activities of the Council of Europe: Facts, Figures and Information
Sources, Sophie Lobey (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Council_of_Europe1.htm) Claire M. Germain, Germain's Transnational Law Research: A Guide for Attorneys
(Ardsley-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Transnational Juris Publications, Inc., c1991-),
K 85 .G47 1991 Law Reference Desk. (Chapter IV includes sections
dealing with the Council of Europe, the European Convention
on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights, and the European Union.)
[Return to Contents]
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