Foreign Law in The Bluebook . . . and Other Guides
The Bluebook offers detailed guidance for all sorts of U.S. materials, but it is less comprehensive for foreign jurisdictions. (Imagine how big it would be if it had the detail about other countries that it does for the U.S.!)
It gives guidance for citing materials from 43 selected foreign jurisdictions in T2, pp. 277-425. The 21st edition of the Bluebook removed T2 from the print and instead made it freely available online here.
The editors of two journals have prepared their own guides.
Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations, by the New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, covers 45 countries. The first edition (2006) is available in PDF here. The second edition (2009) (which was commercially published) is available in print in the Reference Area (K89 .G84 2009).
The International Citation Manual (ICM), prepared by the editors of the Washington University Global Studies Law Review, covers 37 countries. Each has a several-page guide giving an overview of its legal system and showing citation formats for different major publications (constitution, statutes, cases, etc.), with lots of examples.
There are many countries that appear in only one or two of the three manuals. The following chart summarizes the coverage.
Legal Abbreviations
World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations by Publication Date: 19914-volume set.
Provides thousands of abbreviations used around the world. Sections include: Africa, Australian, Bulgarian, Canada, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Korean, India, Italian, Japanese, Korean, New Zealand, Latin, Portuguese, South African, Spanish, and UK and Commonwealth of Nations.
Vol. 4 contains a breakdown by subject, but only covers some English-speaking countries.- Cardiff Index to Legal AbbreviationsA database that allows you to search for the meaning of abbreviations for legal publications from over 295 jurisdictions.
Guides for Selected Jurisdictions
Australia
- Australian Guide to Legal Citation, 3d ed.Published by Melbourne University Law Review Association and Melbourne Journal of International Law.
Canada
China
- Citation Guidelines for Chinese Language Materials (2015)Two UW Law graduate students—Paul Tao-Chou Chang & Bingyan (Maria) Jiang—created this guide filled with examples of citations to many Chinese legal sources.
United Kingdom
Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations, 3d ed. by Publication Date: 2008
OSCOLA: Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities, 4th ed. by Call Number: KD400 .O83 2012Publication Date: 2012
