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Comparative law: study & application: Home

Purpose of this guide

This guide is intended for students and researchers studying comparative law 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 comparative law, including ebooks, ejournals, and databases.

Comparative law : quick start

This guide deals with related areas of legal study

  • comparative law
  • legal pluralism & legal polycentricity
  • private international law or conflict of laws
  • transplantation/harmonization/unification/globalization

Please also consult our guides to jurisdictions as they will identify databases, books etc which are available for studying the law of these nations.

Resources on the free web

Print collection in the Law Bod

The Law Bod's collection is shelved over four floors. An interest in comparative law may well see you visiting at least three! These floors are connected by both stairs and a lift. Please feel free to ask a member of staff for directions when you visit the Law Bod, but the following is designed to give you a basic understanding.

Level 2 (Two), the level at which you enter the library, has the comparative studies collections. The larger collection has shelf marks beginning General. A smaller collection, for books where the comparison is solely within members of the Commonwealth, can be found with shelf marks beginning Cw Gen. 
Level 2
 also has works on the public and private law of GB & NI,  Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and USA. These works have shelf marks KB to KN

Level 3 (Three), one floor above the entrance level, has the collections of  private international law or conflict of laws -Private Int on shelfmarks, the European Union Law collection (Euro Comm shelf marks) and the collections for the individual countries of Europe.

Level 1 (One), one floor below the entrance level, has the collections for the remaining jurisdictions of the world.

For more guidance on finding commentary, please visit the Books and the Journals page in this guide.

Your searches in SOLO may well reveal other Bodleian Libraries have material which would support your research. 
In most cases, if you have a current Oxford University Card or a Bodleian Reader's Card, you will already be able to access these libraries - however, please do check information on the other Libraries' own websites, particularly their location & opening hours.

Related Bodleian Guides

Key library