Needs of Researchers about International Legal Materials

Excerpts from the “Report of a survey conducted during Summer 2000, into the needs of researchers who require access to foreign legal materials”, by the Foreign Law Guide (FLAG) Project.

Types of legal material

Table 4 shows overall similarities in the types of legal material academics and Ph.D. students said they needed to access. Reports of the decisions of domestic courts achieved high rankings amongst both groups of respondents. Codes were also highly sought after. The decisions of international tribunals, whilst also achieving high rankings, were sought more frequently by Ph.D. students than academics. Next came session laws, and constitutions. Of lesser importance to both groups were official gazettes, digests and parliamentary proceedings. Other types of international law material mentioned, in descending order of frequency of citation, were non-legal documents, including policy documents and press releases, of international organisations and convention secretariats, travaux preparatoires, books, journals, ratification records etc. for treaties, proceedings of international conferences, publications of government and non-governmental organisation. Other types of domestic foreign law material mentioned were, again in descending order of frequency of citation, journal articles, textbooks, law reform publications, government and non-governmental publications, professional codes of practice, Bills (currently passing through stages towards enactment) and historical manuscripts.

Material type Academics Ph.D. students
Number % Rank Number % Rank
International law
Conventions/treaties 36 61 5 10 77 4
Decisions of tribunals 31 53 6 12 92 1
Other int’l materials 22 13 11 1 8 10

Domestic foreign law
Constitutions 37 63 4 9 70 5
Codes 38 64 3 11 85 2=
Official gazettes 26 44 7= 4 31 9
Session laws 41 69 2 8 62 6
Parliamentary proceedings 22 37 9 6 46 8
Court reports 47 80 1 11 85 2=
Digests 26 44 7= 7 54 7
Other materials 17 29 10 0 0 11
Total respondents 59 100 13 100

Table 4: Types of legal material needed by academics and Ph.D. students.

Areas of the world

Table 5 shows the areas of the world for which legal materials have been sought by academics and Ph.D. students for past and present research. North America and Western Europe are the most sought after, followed, at some considerable distance, by Australia, New Zealand, Central and Eastern Europe, Southern Africa, East and South Asia and the Caribbean.

Location Academics Ph.D. students
Number % Rank Number % Rank
Africa
Central Africa 5 8 15= 0 0 16=
East Africa 9 15 9= 1 8 12=
North Africa 5 8 15= 0 0 16=
Southern Africa 19 32 6 3 23 8=
West Africa 8 14 12= 1 8 12=
Americas
Caribbean countries 15 25 7 1 8 12=
Central America 5 8 15= 1 8 12=
North America 48 81 1 11 85 2
South America 9 15 9= 0 0 16=
Asia
East Asia 9 15 9= 4 31 7
Central Asia 7 12 14 2 15 10=
Middle East 5 8 15= 2 15 10=
South Asia 8 14 12= 4 31 5=
South East Asia 13 22 8 5 38 4
Europe
Western Europe 44 75 2 12 92 1
Central/Eastern Europe 23 39 5 3 23 8=
Oceania
Australia 38 64 3 9 70 3
New Zealand 35 59 4 4 31 5=
Other Pacific Ocean countries 4 7 19 0 0 16=
Total respondents 59 100 13 100

Table 5: Areas of the world for which legal materials have been sought for past and present research by academics and Ph.D. students.

Material type Old universities New universities
Number % Rank Number % Rank
International law
Conventions/treaties 19 73 1 7 54 4=
Decisions of tribunals 12 46 4 10 77 2
Other int’l materials 2 8 7= 1 8 8=

Domestic foreign law
Constitutions 8 31 6 5 39 6
Codes 9 35 5 8 62 3
Official gazettes 1 4 9= 0 0 10=
Session laws 14 54 3 7 54 4=
Parliamentary proceedings 2 8 7= 4 31 7
Court reports 17 65 2 12 92 1
Digests 0 0 11 1 8 8=
Other materials 1 4 9= 0 0 10=
Total respondents 26 100 13 100

Table 10: Types of foreign legal material librarians needed to access on behalf of users.

Search characteristics of a Web inventory

Table 17 shows the views of academics and Ph.D. students of the most desirable search methods which should be incorporated in the web inventory. Name of country and subject feature in the top two positions, followed by material type. These three were far and away more frequently mentioned than other search methods. Location of the library and collection strength, were each mentioned by fewer than 40% of respondents. Search methods which respondents contributed included ‘materials in translation’.
.

Search methods Academics Ph.D. students
Number % Rank Number % Rank
Name of country/organisation 57 97 1 11 85 2
Type of material 40 68 3 10 77 3
Subject 52 88 2 12 92 1
Strength of collection 14 24 5 2 15 5
Location of library 21 36 4 5 38 4
Other 1 2 6 1 8 6
Total respondents 59 100 13 100

There is a high degree of unanimity amongst law librarians that the most important search methods should be the name of the country or organisation, the type of legal materials and the subject.