Law

Below are a selection of Asian and South Pacific legal research resources. Check the GlobaLex foreign law research guides for more jurisdictions.

Access to legal information from all 27 countries and territories in Asia including Japan, Pakistan, Mongolia and Timor Leste.

This legal research report is prepared by the Law Library of Congress.

En.pkulaw.cn is the alternative English-language website and is more fully integrated with the provider's Chinese-language legal information services.

The original version of this article was an excerpt from Roaming the Virtual Law Library: A Guide to Online Sources for Legal Researchers, edited by Joan Liu and Liying Yu, Law Press China (2004), with minor revisions. The article was subsequently revised by Anna Guo in 2017.

The Guide to Law Online (China), prepared by the Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information.

Hong Kong e-Legislation (HKeL) is the official database of Hong Kong legislation. It provides free online access to current and past versions of consolidated legislation dating back to 30 June 1997

Prepared by the Library of Congress.

Lawinfochina provides resources on Chinese law via English translation.

This database contains selected Chinese legislation and related documents that have been translated into English. It includes: laws, regulations, pronouncements, resolutions, notices, measures, rules, decisions, decrees, principles, provisions, announcements, procedures, official replies and circulars (in interim, current and/or planned versions). The data is from a number of publically accessible sources including the government websites - ChinaLaw (Information Centre for Legislative Affairs Office of the PRC State Council) and ChinaCourt (Supreme Peoples' Court).

This LOC blog post updates their previous guides to researching Chinese Law.

Library of Congress Law Library. Updated 1 July 2015.

Free access to primary legal materials from Hong Kong (and some publicly available secondary materials).

Full-text case reports from the courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (the Court of Final Appeal, the Court of Appeal of the High Court, and the Court of First Instance of the High Court); the courts of the British crown colony of Hong Kong (the Privy Council, the Court of Appeal, and the High Court); and other courts and tribunals, such as the District Court and Lands Tribunal. Coverage begins with 1905. Also contains summaries of decisions from the Hong Kong regional courts and the Privy Council of Great Britain beginning with 1996 and full-text case law documents from the Hong Kong Latest Judgment Alert Service beginning with 1999.

Full-text case reports from Hong Kong Law Reports and Digest, the authorized reporting service for the courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (the Court of Final Appeal, the Court of Appeal of the High Court, and the Court of First Instance of the High Court); the courts of the British crown colony of Hong Kong (the Privy Council, the Court of Appeal, and the High Court); and other courts and tribunals, such as the District Court and Lands Tribunal. Coverage begins with 1905.

Prepared by the Library of Congress.

Published September 2018.

AsianLII.

Published September 2009.

ASEAN Law Association.

Neliti is an open access collection including many peer reviewed Indonesian law journals including the Indonesian Journal of International Law (IJIL), Brawijaya Law, Indonesia Law Review , Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology.

Prepared by the Library of Congress.

By Keiko Okuhara (librarian at the University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law Library).

Current Federal Legislation can be downloaded for free from this site.

Published June 2016.

AsianLII.

Published May/June 2008.

HeinOnline.

Published November 2005.

AsianLII country resource.

Includes judgements and explanations of the judicial system of Pakistan.

Chan Robles Virtual Law Library.

Database including legislation and case law.

Includes links to legislation and regulations including executive orders and proclamations.

Published July 2005.

WorldLII.

Includes links to case law.

Published March 2017.

Contains substantive documents appearing in Singapore Year Book of International Law (formerly Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law).

The SingaporeLaw Committee, officially formed and supported by the Singapore Academy of Law and the Ministry of Law, devises and implements strategies and activities to increase the international profile of Singapore law and to promote Singapore as a centre for dispute resolution. Site contains overview of Singapore legal system, laws and selected cases.

For each country, AsianLII contains an extensive Catalog of law-related websites, and ‘Law on Google’ which assists users to search Google only for legal materials from that country.

The Guide to Law Online (Sri Lanka), prepared by the Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information.

Published October 2016.

Published April 2011.

PacLII collects and publishes legal materials from 20 Pacific Islands Countries including: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Online article.

Official webpage.

The Benchbook is created as a manual for Judges in improving their expertise and facilitating their duties.

AsianLII.

Published July 2006.

Published February 2017.

A bibliographic database that indexes articles from published and unpublished material that concern Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, or South- East Asia as a whole (when the foci countries are included). Subject coverage includes law.

Indexes periodical literature relating to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and ASEAN. Subject coverage includes: law, humanities, social sciences and more.

Published by Cornell University Law School, this guide provides links to constitutions, legislation, government and legal information from over 30 Asian jurisdictions.

The Asian Law Centre (ALC) commenced activities in 1985 and is the first and largest Australian centre devoted to the development of our understanding of Asian law and legal systems.

The Asian Law Centre aims to provide resources for academics, students and the general community about Asian law and Asian legal studies.