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Germany : legal resources: Home

Purpose of this guide

This guide is intended for students and researchers studying the law and legal system of Germany at the University of Oxford, although students and researchers from any field may find it useful.

Use this guide to find out about sources and commentary for German law, including ebooks, ejournals, and databases.

German law: quick start

Holders of an Oxford SSO can access the subscription to the German database below on completion of some extra registration formalities.

Available to anyone with access to the internet are:

The Bodleian Law Library's collection focuses on the laws/legal system of Germany  from 1871-1945,  of West Germany and of post-Unification Germany.  Works on these periods are together, in a collection on Level 3 most having shelf marks starting German.  The exceptions are the major Kommentare which have shelf marks starting KV - there is an ongoing project to move the entire collection to the Moys classification system.

For more detailed guidance on finding German law in the Law Library please see also the Books page in this guide.

The Law Bod also has a smaller, distinct collection of works on the law of former East German (and some on Socialist law in general)  For more guidance on this please visit the GDR/DDR page. 

The Bodleian Law Library's current print collection on the laws & legal system of Germany is on Floor 3. Most of the shelf marks start German. (The exceptions are the major Kommentare which start KV - the beginning of the entire collections move to the Moys classification system.)

Immediately after this collection, you can find  the smalle collection of works on the law of former East German. Their shelf marks begin German DR. 

The majority of these materials are - of course - in German. However there are some in English, such as the introductions to the German legal system below.

If your German research interests extend beyond the purely legal you may find SOLO results pointing you to useful materials in other parts of the Bodleian

Related Bodleian guides

Key library