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Law: Databases

Row of old colourful leather bound books

Databases provide access to high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, dissertations and many other resources. 

These databases have been especially selected for this subject area. When carrying out your research for a piece of work, you will need to search more than one database to find all of the journal articles relevant to your topic, as each database covers different journal titles.

Database Spotlight

Max Planck Encyclopaedias of International Law Logo

Max Planck Encyclopaedias of International Law

The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL) and Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (MPEiPro) are comprehensive analytical resources that feature peer-reviewed articles on every aspect of international law. These definitive reference works are the first port of call for anyone interested in international law. The content covers a wide range of subjects including Diplomacy and Consular Relations, Human Rights, International Economic Law, Immunities, Law of Treaties and Theory of International Law plus many more (Provided by Publisher).

Essential databases

The following are important databases for this subject area, however if you don't see what you're looking for, please go to the Database Directory for Law to browse a wider selection.

 

  • Lexis+ Essential
    A database containing the full text of unreported cases from 1981 to date and tax cases from 1875 to date. Other older cases go back to the late nineteenth century. As it is primarily an American database it also contains a wealth of American material, but also European, Commonwealth and international information. For UK and Irish regional and national newspapers click on 'Content' then 'Newspapers'.
  • Westlaw UK Essential
    Includes EU & UK legislation, law reports & case digests, citators & analysis (commencement, amendment, subsequent treatment, history etc), Legal Journals Index, Financial Journals Index Archive (-Mar. 2006), selected full text law journals, news & current awareness, Woodfall's law of landlord and tenant, and Palmer's company law. Westlaw UK is a dynamic, ever-growing and easily searchable source of case law, legislation, news, legal journals, commentary, current awareness alerts and EU legal materials.
  • vLex Justis Essential
    JustisOne, is the flagship legal research platform from Justis, giving access to the most comprehensive collection of common law cases, alongside advanced legal technology. This unique combination of content and technology allows access to more cases, and enables users to conduct efficient, exhaustive and thorough legal research. JustisOne doesnt restrict your search to Justis content. Find cases from over 120 services, across 26 jurisdictions, to ensure your research is exhaustive. For over 30 years Justis products and services have been trusted by leading international law firms, government departments, and top law schools from over 40 countries. See at a glance where an authority has been considered, view the most cited passage of a case, and refine your search using JustisOnes advanced tools. To ensure you can view the most cited passage of a judgment, JustisOne scans and cross-references the entire judgment transcript with over 500,000 other cases, updating the most cited passages in real time. The heat map over the text provides a visual guide for heavily cited passages. Simply click on the passage to see the paragraph number, case name, court and jurisdiction of the citing case.
  • HeinOnline Foreign & International Law Resources Database Essential
    As international law continues to play a prominent role in the legal arena, access to an online database to assist in researching the evolution of this important area is essential. HeinOnline has closed the gap in the void of online access to important international law research documents. With HeinOnlines Foreign and International Law Resources Database (FILRD), researchers are able to easily search or browse online through the treasures of some of the worlds best international law titles, from the in-depth coverage of publications of the American Society of International Law and prominent yearbooks from around the world to the Hague Permanent Court of International Justice series and the publications of dozens of other highly respected publishers.
  • Oxford Law Trove Essential
    Includes law textbooks on: Business Law, Company & Commercial Law, Comparative Law, Constitutional & Administrative Law, Contract Law, Criminal Law, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Employment Law, Environment Law, Equity & Trusts, EU Law, Evidence, Family Law, Human Rights & Immigration Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, IT & Communications Law, Jurisprudence & Philosophy of Law, Land Law, Legal Practice Courses, Legal Systems & Skills (English Legal System), Medical & Healthcare Law, Tort.
  • Kluwer Law International Journal Library Essential
    Contains 23 Kluwer Law International Journals including: Air and Space Law, Arbitration International, World Trade and Arbitration Materials, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law & Industrial Relations, European Public Law, European Review of Private Law, and Legal Issues of Economic Integration. Digitized and made available by W.S. Hein & Company.
  • KluwerArbitration.com Essential
    KluwerArbitration.com is the world's leading online resource for international arbitration research. It contains a wealth of commentary from expert authors and an extensive collection of primary source materials. Plus, as a subscriber, you gain access to exclusive materials including ICC cases and awards. In addition to primary resources, discover commentary from leading experts, an excellent collection of Journals, and an extended book collection including International Commercial Arbitration by Gary Born and Redfern and Hunter on International Arbitration. Kluwer Arbitration offers 24 Journal archives: a unique collection of arbitration periodicals, normally including the full archive of all issues published, and 400+ Books: the world’s largest assortment of arbitration treatises, on any conceivable topic and including the classic treatises. In addition to a wealth of institutional, national, multinational and bilateral regulations, the ICCA Handbook and the Compare Jurisdiction Tool provide further insights through over 75 country reports by leading arbitrators, academics and practitioners on national arbitral practice and relevant national legislation. Discover an unrivalled collection of court decisions on the enforcement, annulment and validity of arbitral awards, using the New York Convention tool. This tool provides easy access to the interpretation and application of the Convention by the courts, as exemplified by the continuously growing number of over 2,400 court decisions from over 90 countries. Users can browse cases by provision of the Convention, by topic (which in turn follow the sequence of the Convention's provisions) or by country, gaining quick access to all relevant court decisions.
  • Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law Essential
    The Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law is a comprehensive, analytical resource containing peer-reviewed articles on every aspect of international law. This definitive reference work contains both the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law. Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL) is the definitive reference work on public international law. This major online reference work contains 1,700+ peer-reviewed articles on every aspect of the substance of international law. Written by an incomparable team of over 900 scholars and practitioners led by Professor Rdiger Wolfrum, this comprehensive resource is essential for anyone researching or teaching international law. Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (MPEiPro) is the home of international law in practice, it maps and analyzes the systems and processes through which international law is made and adjudicated in practice. Each article is commissioned by General Editor Professor Hlne Ruiz Fabri and a team of experts at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law, providing cutting-edge and rigorously peer-reviewed research on areas of international law that are often under-explored. MPEiPro will take a broad view of international procedure, examining it from three different angles: technical points of procedure within specific institutions or across similar organizations; comparative accounts of families of institutions within specific subject areas or with similar functions; and theoretical, interdisciplinary entries. The scope of the Encyclopedia mirrors the broad understanding of procedure underlying it, encompassing decision-making by international organs in general, including political and administrative bodies. At launch, the Encyclopedia will cover dispute settlement and adjudication. Coverage of non-adjudicatory modes of dispute settlement such as negotiation, mediation, and conciliation, as well as international political and administrative procedures, will be added over time. The Encyclopedia will eventually contain over 1500 entries.
  • U.K. Parliamentary Papers Essential
    U.K. Parliamentary Papers provides complete online coverage of the sessional papers of the British House of Commons and the 19th Century House of Lords. It includes detailed primary source for the history of Britain, its colonies, and the wider world. It covers working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy.
  • Europa Essential
    Europa is the European Union's principal information source on the world-wide web. It provides detailed information about EU institutions and policies and acts as a gateway to the home pages of a number of EU bodies such as the Parliament, the Commission and its Directorates General and the European Court. Many full text documents on EU policies are also made available.
  • HeinOnline Law Journal Library Essential
    The Law Journal Library is HeinOnline's signature collection of more than 3,000 fully searchable, image-based journals, each dating back to the first issue ever published. This scholarly journals database spans more than 41 million pages bridging a crucial research gap. Every document in the library is an exact recreation of its print counterpart, while still providing the ease and speed that accompanies online searching. To improve discoverability of relevant content, this database has also been integrated with a number of unique artificial intelligence tools and research aids. Though initially named the "Law" Journal Library for the content it originally contained, this resource has grown from a small collection of law reviews to a multidisciplinary journals database spanning tens of millions of pages. Its coverage is comprehensive and includes works from 60 different countries, as well as 50 states and the District of Columbia. The journals in this database span more than 1,500 research subjects.
  • JSTOR Essential
    Used by millions for research, teaching, and learning. With more than a thousand academic journals and over one million images, letters, and other primary sources, JSTOR is one of the world's most trusted sources for academic content.
  • Science Direct Essential
    Science Direct provides full-text access to over 2,400 journals, plus book series, encyclopaedias and other reference works
  • Kanopy Essential
    Kanopy allows users to stream, share, comment, create clips and playlists and ask filmmakers questions. Kanopys catalogue of videos has grown to over 25,000 videos and includes films from the BBC, PBS, Media Education Foundation, and many other production houses. Please note whilst possible to browse all titles only videos subscribed to by the Library will be available to view..Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video service for educational institutions that works directly with filmmakers and film distribution companies to offer thousands of award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases across diverse subjects and disciplines. Collections include titles from the DEFA Film Library, ArtMattan Films, HBO, Frameline, Ruscico, Pragda, BBC, Flicker Alley, National Film Board of Canada, First Run Features, Cinema Libre Studio, New Day Films, and the Criterion Collection/Janus Films.

Key database categories

Key Database Directory

You can use our Database Directory to browse a broader range of databases that are relevant to Law as well as other subjects. The directory also allows you to identify databases that provide access to specific types of resources (e.g. Full Text Articles, Streaming Video, Patents, Theses and Dissertations, and much more).

Database Directory Law

Research at The University of Manchester

The University of Manchester's research is internationally recognised. Go to Research Explorer, Manchester's research database, to discover the breadth of research produced by staff across the University.

Browse research publications from the Department of Law (please note: whilst many of the publications listed are available to access/Open Access, some records are for forthcoming titles awaiting publication).

 

Research Explorer Search Interface

 

Creative Commons Licence This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence.

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