A great deal of information on comparative constitutional law can be found on various legal databases and websites. Several major databases provide access to the world's constitutions, while those and other sites also have supplemental materials on foreign primary law and secondary sources. Journal indexes provide summaries of articles from legal and academic journals from around the world. This page also highlights a few select law journals that concentrate on this area, as well as links to online information on several major comparative constitutional law projects.
Available both in print and electronically, Oxford's Constitutions of the World surveys the constitutions of nearly 120 countries. Each chapter profiles one country, providing background information on the constitutional history of the nation and the overall structure of its constitution. (Available to UNC Faculty & Students)
World Constitutions Illustrated includes the current constitutions for countries in both their original languages and in English translation, as well as constitutional histories for all included foreign jurisdictions. In addition, the collection provides access to scholarly articles and commentaries exploring the constitutional history of each available jurisdiction. (Available to UNC Faculty & Students)
The Constitute Project provides online access to hundreds of constitutions from across the globe. Current and earlier versions of constitutions are included, and the website features a "Compare" feature that allows researchers to compare several constitutions side-by-side. In addition, topical filtering allows researchers to focus on specific constitution provisions and compare their treatment across multiple jurisdictions.
The International Constitutional Law Project is maintained by the University of Bern and provides English translations of constitutional documents. Note that the scope of the collection is not as detailed as that available in The Constitute Project, but this is another resource to keep in mind when searching for foreign constitutions. This website is also a bit older, as it has not been updated since 2016.
The following is a list of databases and websites that provide access to foreign legal resources. Be prepared to use a variety of different resources to locate the primary law material that you seek, as many are not comprehensive and only provide access to materials from the late 1990s-present. Moreover, you will likely be viewing "unofficial" versions of legislation and regulations.
The Foreign Law Guide is an excellent tool for researchers seeking to learn more about the specific legal system of a foreign country. The database provides complete bibliographic citations to legislation and clearly identifies when English translations are available. Most country pages in this database also provide links to official gazettes and highlight whether English translations are available. (Available to UNC Faculty & Students)
Westlaw provides limited access to foreign legal materials. The most comprehensive collections are typically available for other common law jurisdictions, like Canada or the United Kingdom. However, the availability of materials is inconsistent, so be sure to check out the "Information" icon for each jurisdiction so that you understand the coverage. The "Information" icon can usually be found near the top of each content page. (Available to UNC Law Faculty & Students)
Lexis also provides access to a variety of legal materials from foreign jurisdictions. As with Westlaw, these materials are typically strongest for common law jurisdictions. For most foreign jurisdictions, you will find access to foreign news and other secondary sources. Be sure to check the "Information" icon available for each foreign jurisdiction to understand the depth of coverage. (Available to UNC Law Faculty & Students)
The World Legal Information Institute is a free, independent non-profit global legal research website that provides links to online primary law materials from nearly 50 jurisdictions, including statutes, regulations, and cases. In addition, you will also find access to the Legal Information Institute pages for specific countries and regions, which are maintained by law libraries in those regions. These region-specific LII pages often provide advanced search features that enable topical research:
GlobaLex, maintained by NYU School of Law, provides comparative, foreign, and international law research guides arranged by country and subject. In the Foreign Law Research section, research guides are tailored to specific foreign jurisdictions and provide an overview of the legal and governmental systems of a country, review the major sources of primary law, and provide links (where available) to online sources for primary law materials. Globalex has a very through research guide on Comparative Constitutional Law.
Note: When utilizing GlobaLex research guides, be sure that you are viewing the most updated version of the guide.
The Library of Congress's Foreign and International Law page provides access to individualized country research guides for a variety of jurisdictions. Each research guide includes an introduction to the legal system, official sources of law, print resources, and web resources.
HeinOnline Law Journal Library contains scanned images of U.S. and some foreign law reviews, generally back to their inception. An index of journal titles is available by subject (see “Comparative Law” and “Constitutional Law”) and country of publication.
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) is available electronically through HeinOnline and indexes foreign (including some non-English-language) law journals. Relevant subjects include “Constitutions,” “Constitutional Amendments,” “Constitutional History,” “Constitutional Law,” and “Constitutional Courts.” Journal titles are listed by region and country.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts is a ProQuest database that offers citations, abstracts, and indexing of political science literature, and related fields, such as comparative constitutional law. For other databases that include political science literature, see the UNC libraries' E-Research by Discipline page.
Comparative Constitutions Project The CCP website offers a variety of information on the world’s constitutions including comparative data and rankings.
ConstitutionNet platform is a project of IDEA (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance). Included on the site are in-depth country reports, which include constitutional history, government information, and current developments. ConstitutionNet also provides full-text access to IDEA’s publications that cover topics such as constitution building, constitutional rights, and the judiciary.
Global Constitutionalism Seminar Publications are posted on the web page of the Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women’s Rights at the Yale Law School. The program sponsors an annual four-day seminar on selected facets of global constitutionalism, attended by supreme court and constitutional court justices from around the world, as well as academics.
WORLD Policy and Analysis Center: Constitutions focuses its work on policy research in such areas as health, the environment, and constitutional rights. It recently undertook a project comparing the civil, political, social, economic, and equal rights in the constitutions of the 193 member states of the United Nations. This site adeptly presents the study’s findings using maps, graphs, and diagrams. There is also a link to the report itself, “Advancing Equality: How Constitutional Rights Can Make a Difference Worldwide”, which was released in January 2020.
