Boley Law Library: Animal Law Research Guide: International &amp; Foreign

Starting Points

If you are new to researching foreign and international law (or just need a refresher), the best way to get started is to visit our Foreign Law Research and International Law Research Guides.

International Issues in Animal Law by Peter L. Fitzgerald
Call Number: Treatise K3620 .F58 2012
This book explores the impact of a wide range of international environmental and economic laws on domestic efforts to advance non-human animal interests, providing depth on the connections between domestic animal law and global issues and agreements.
The Global Guide to Animal Protection by Andrew Linzey (Editor)
This eBook provides a comprehensive overview of global animal welfare issues.
Basic Legal Documents on International Animal Welfare and Wildlife Conservation by Mark Austen; Tamara Richards (Editor)
Call Number: Boley Law Library: Environment K3525.A35 B37 2000
International, regional, European Union and by use of the animal agreements are grouped together along with some brief annotations and ratification information.

This encyclopedia covers major environmental treaties involving animal protection and includes thorough references to journal articles.

ECOLEX
- A database containing treaties, foreign statutes, foreign case law, and literature on animal conservation, ecosystem management, and other environmental law topics.
FAOLEX (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
- A database containing foreign and international laws on food, agriculture, and natural resources.
Animal Legal & Historical Center (Michigan State University)
- A database containing foreign statutes, international agreements, and articles on animal law.
  - For foreign law: under the "Search Materials" tab, select your country of interest.
  - For international law: under the "Search Materials" tab, select "Treaty" from the dropdown menu for "Legal Material Type."
Foreign Law Guide
- A database indexing foreign laws by country and subject.
- Visit the Animals & Animal Welfare index entry for a list of animal laws organized by country, with links to translated laws where available.

IFLP is a multilingual index to articles from over 500 legal journals published worldwide, with in-depth coverage of foreign and international law. The index links to the full text of some (but not all) articles; if you are having trouble finding an article, see this page for tips on other places to look.

International Animal Law Journals

Foreign Research Tips

Use country-specific research guides to understand foreign legal systems and identify major primary and secondary sources. GlobaLex and Library of Congress are good starting points.
Copy and paste website URLs into Google Translate to automatically translate them.
When using Google to find foreign law documents, you can narrow a search to a specific website with the "site:" search command. For example:
- site:europa.eu “laboratory animals”
- "animal welfare" site:.de
See our guide on Foreign Law Research for more tips and resources.

Foreign Animal Law Resources

Animals & Animal Welfare (Foreign Law Guide)
- A list of animal laws organized by country, with links to translated laws where available.
National Laws on Animal Welfare (Georgetown Law Library)
- A list of translated laws on animal welfare.
Animal Welfare Legislation Datatabase (Global Animal Law Association)
- A database ranking countries by the strength of their animal welfare laws, with links to English translations.
Gateway to Farm Animal Welfare (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations)
- A website with links to foreign legislation, codes of practice, scientific papers, and other resources on farm animal welfare.
European Animal Welfare Laws by Country (European Enforcement Network of Animal Welfare Lawyers and Commissioners)
- A survey of animal welfare laws in European countries.

International Research Tips

There is no single source for finding, retrieving, and updating treaties and international agreements. Researchers will often need to be creative and consult several sources when researching a particular treaty. Our International Law Research Guide is the best place to get started.
For finding treaties to which the U.S. is a party, try using HeinOnline's U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library.
Many multilateral treaties can be found using the United Nations Treaty Series Online database and Heinonline's World Treaty Library.
Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law are useful resources for finding articles on major areas of international law, both substantive and procedural.

Secondary Sources