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Foreign Law Research for U.S. Attorneys

An introductory guide to finding the laws of foreign jurisdictions.
URL: https://libguides.law.ucla.edu/foreignlaw

Deciphering Abbreviations

Oftentimes when researching foreign law, you will be faced with an unfamiliar abbreviation in a citation to a statute, case or other material.  The following sources can help you decipher these citations:

Dictionaries and Translation Tools

In general, you should not attempt serious research into a country's laws unless you speak that country's language. 

However, if you are just attempting to locate the text of a law on a website or if you speak the language but are struggling with unfamiliar legal terms there are several tools that may be helpful: