South Asian Legal Information: A Bibliography of Free e-Resources in English
One of the most important organizations in the South Asian region is the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (hereinafter SAARC). SAARC provides a collective intelligence to address the cultural issues that afflict that region of the world. SAARC, was established on December 8, 1985. The member countries include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Some sites may include Afghanistan, but that is a more recent addition (they became a member in April 2007), they are not an original member of the organization and many of the sites have not been recently updated to include access to mirror information for Afghanistan.
SAARC Law: This site includes links to the laws of each of the member countries.
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
The Embassy of Afghanistan (in Washington, DC): Legislative Affairs page
Washburn University School of Law: Afghanistan law resource page
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Heidelberg Bangladesh Law Translation Project Contains full text of acts and ordinances from 1985 to 1995 translated from the Bangla original into English.
Law Commission, Bangladesh: Official website of the Law Commission. Provides general information and access to a selection of Commission reports.
Bangladesh Parliament: Official Website of the Bangladesh Parliament. Provides general information and access to laws from 1990 (some of which have been translated into English).
Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Bangladesh
The Kingdom of Bhutan
Government of Bhutan: Official Website of the Government of Bhutan. Provides general information and access to selected legislation and other documents.
Republic of India
RTI [Right To Information] Portal: Gateway to the citizens for Quick search of information, web published by various departments in Government.
Indian Ministry of Law and Justice
All India Reporter: Provides free access to the AIR Supreme Court Weekly which includes a digest of decisions from this court. Some cases have a link to the full text of the judgment. Requires registration.
Indian Courts: Provides general information about the judiciary and links to the Supreme Court and all the High Courts of India. Also contains JUDIS (Judgement Information System) which provides access to judgements from the Supreme Court (from 1950 onwards) and High Courts.
India Code Information System: Provides access to the full text of all statutes of India enacted by Parliament.
Indian Bare Acts - Provides access to the full text of the Indian Bare Acts.
Laws: Provides access to the full text of selected Indian legislation.
Republic of Maldives
The Library of Congress: this includes links to relevant information (in English) including: the Constitution, Executive, Judicial and Legislative sites, Legal Guides and a listing of General Sources (e.g.: country resources, consular information)
Cornell University Law School: Legal Information Institute
Law & Policy Institutions Guide
Kingdom of Nepal
Law Moose: World Legal Resource Center
The Library of Congress: this includes links to relevant information (in English) including: the Constitution, Executive, Judicial and Legislative sites, Legal Guides and a listing of General Sources (e.g.: country resources, consular information)
Blog: Legal Development in Nepal
Law Research: Nepal Law and Government
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan
Emory University: Pakistan Legal Decisions, Civil Law Cases, Monthly Legal Digest
Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights
Law Moose World Legal Resource Center
National Reconstruction Bureau: Constitutional & Legal
Supreme Court of Pakistan: Contains general information on the Supreme Court and provides access to selected judgements.
Pakistanlawyer.com: Contains information specifically for lawyers and provides access to the full text of selected legislation.
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Ministry of Justice and Law Reforms: General Info
Ministry of Justice and Law Reforms
LawNet: Provides access to selected legislation, journal articles and the Sri Lanka Law reports (from 1978 onwards).
Courts of Law: Contains information on the Courts of Sri Lanka and provides access to selected judgements.
International sites
United Nations - International Law
CIA: The World Factbook.: This includes an alphabetical listing of every countries legal system (e.g.: what it is based on and whether the nation state has accepted the jurisdiction of the ICJ International Court of Justice).
International Court of Justice
International Commission of Jurists
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: National Libraries of the World
The University of Ottawa – World Legal Systems: In addition to a short presentation on the various types of legal systems (common law, civil law, customary law, Muslim law and mixed), the database features an index which categorizes countries of the world by the type of legal system, and color-coded maps.
Legal Issues for South Asian Women
Asian Legal Information Institute: 189 databases from 28 Asian countries and territories
General Legal Research sites
Lexisone: You need to register to use this site, but some basic legal information can be retrieved for free.
Martindale Hubbell: Allows you to search for lawyers and law firms in multiple countries.
The Library of Congress’ Asian collection: This collection began in 1869 with a gift of 10 works in 933 volumes from the emperor of China to the United States. Spanning a diversity of subjects from China, Japan, Korea, the South Asian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, the Library’s Asian collections have become one of the most accessible and comprehensive sources of Asian language materials in the world. It is re among the most significant outside of Asia and consist of nearly 2.8 million books, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts and microforms in the languages of East, South and Southeast Asia.
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