UN Libraries announce new free resource

The librarians at the UN have announced that the United Nations Digital Library (UNDL) is now available and can be accessed globally free of charge. From the announcement:

"The new platform runs on innovative open source technology... and is a result of the successful collaboration between the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at UN Headquarters and our sister library at the UN Office in Geneva...Phase 1 of the features the integration of ... 3  databases into one; it incorporates digital content, mainly official UN documents and selected UN maps, with metadata  as well as speech and voting records... We plan to add and integrate additional collections of digital materials as they are created or are made available to us by UN departments, offices, and agencies."

Features of the new platform include:
• Content organized into collections (by UN body, agency, and type of document).
• Various search options (simple keyword, advanced, Boolean, search using field tags, include/exclude search in full text).
• Links between related documents.
• Interface in 6 official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) – in progress.
Users who register for an account at the library can access additional features, such as search alerts, saved searches, and "baskets" for saving documents and collaborating with others.
There is a promotional video on YouTube.  The librarians add "We are developing more features and functionalities and are committed to implement enhancements on a continuous basis. You can help us by sending us your comments and observations."

Constitute: the World's Constitutions

Constitute: The World’s Constitutions to Read, Search and Compare is a website offering access to the world’s constitutions that users can systematically compare them across a broad set of topics — using a modern, clean interface. The website, built by the Comparative Constitutions Project, has tagged passages of each constitution with a topic — e.g., “right to privacy” or “duty to pay taxes” — so you can quickly find relevant excerpts on a particular subject, no matter how they are worded. You can browse the 300+ topics in the expandable list on the left of the page, or see suggested topics while typing in the search bar (which also lets you perform free-text queries). You can also limit your results by country or by date.
The Comparative Constitutions Project  is directed by Zachary Elkins (University of Texas, Department of Government), Tom Ginsburg (University of Chicago, Law School), and James Melton (University College London), in cooperation with the Cline Center for Democracy at the University of Illinois. The project is supported by the National Science Foundation

International look at antitrust issues: Competition Law Institute

The Competition Institute is an international think tank, based in Paris and New York, that cultivates scholarship and discussion about antitrust issues through publications and conferences. According to the webiste, "The Institute focuses government, business and academic attention on a broad range of subjects which concern competition laws, regulations and related economics. This dedication to the antitrust field allows the Institute to match legal expertise with political acumen."
Some information on the site is free, with registration; other is through subscription. Free access includes the Glossary of Competition Terms with some links to caselaw; a list of antitrust law websites by country; and the Antitrust Encyclopedia, which compare the national competition policies in European countries, with an interactive map. The Encyclopedia also has a list of questions about competition law, with answers for each country in Europe. For example, one important question it asks and answers (for each of 32 European countries) is “What is the relevant legislation dealing with anticompetitive practices? What is the main wording?”

hat tip: Jean Pajerek, Cornell Law Library

NEW! ALR International on Westlaw

On January 11, 2010, Westlaw launched ALR International. ALR International will be available in print and online. The database identifier in Westlaw (login required) is ALR-INTL, and Westlaw describes the database in this way:
"ALR-INTL contains the full text of annotations included in American Law Reports International. Volume 1 of ALR International contains the following annotations:
• Construction and Application of United Nations Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, June 10, 1958, 330 U.N.T.S. 38, also known as "New York Convention"-Global Cases: Jurisdictional Issues, Construction of Essential Terms, Applicability of Convention to Action, Impact of Other Multilateral or Bilateral Agreements Upon Applicability of Convention, and Reciprocity Issues
• Construction and Application of Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters, March 18, 1970, 847 U.N.T.S. 231- Global Cases
• Construction and Application of United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, April 10, 1980, 1489 U.N.T.S. 3-Global Cases
• Construction and Application of Freedoms of Speech and Expression Articles (Arts. 18-20) and Right to Marriage Article (Art. 23) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, and National Constitutional Provisions Incorporating Such Articles--Global Cases
• Construction and Application of Article 1A of United Nations Convention Relating to Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137, Regarding Term "Refugee"--Global Cases ."

JuriGlobe foreign law website

JuriGlobe is a website of the World Legal Systems Research Group, four law professors from the University of Ottawa. The site provides a free multilingual information data bank containing general information on legal systems, languages, international commercial conventions, and multilateral commercial tools. The site aims to provide practitioners with tools that might be applicable in a multinational practice, and to provide professors and students with an educational tool useful in the study of comparative and international law. The site provides data on the distribution of legal systems by various factors, including geography, political entity, UN member status, GDP and GNI per capita, and language. Information is presented in a variety of formats, including lists, graphs, tables, and maps, with some information available in multiple formats. The site also has a Bibliography of works about the concept of "legal system", the methods of classification of legal systems, classifications themselves, the interest that those present and "the controversies which they do not cease causing."

hat tip: Jean Pajerek

International Law Video Library

The International Law Video Library is an interactive library of material for those interested in seeing video clips of well-known persons in the field of international law as well as visiting sites of importance to the study of international law. It also contains the Human Rights Video Library which has video holdings of interviews with leading commentators and practitioners in the field of international human rights and video clips of visits to various sites which provide insights into the manner in which international human rights law functions.

website: environment and health at the US-Mexican border

The EPA has announced a new website to provide the public with current environmental news and information on the U.S.-Mexico Border 2012 program. This is a bi-national 10-year initiative focused on making measurable improvements in environmental quality and health along the U.S.-Mexico border.

International Center for Not-for-Profit Law's Online Library

Gary Price at the Resource Shelf reports today about the ICNL Online Library. The Library is a searchable directory of legal documents, court cases, reports, and other civil society resources from countries around the world. ICNL's Online Library currently contains 2338 resources from 144 countries in 37 languages. It's easy to use, and it's easy to just browse the collection by country or language. For example, if you browse to see what documents the library has for Russia, you find that there are 144 Resources:

• All Laws (129 items)


• Key Laws (1 items)


• Other Laws (128 items)


• Research & Policy Papers (10 items)


• Forms (5 items)


• Court Cases (0 items)

The ICNL homepage has more information about the organization.