When working with foreign and international law citations, your first step will likely involve deciphering abbreviations used in the citation—e.g. the name of a law reporter, legal gazette, etc.
Some sources, like Table 2 of the Bluebook, are primarily focused on identifying the correct citation format and helping to identify authoritative foreign and international legal sources. If you are simply trying to decipher an abbreviation, its often faster to use specialized dictionaries or indexes, such as the following five:
- Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations (Online)
-Search abbreviations and their meanings for publications from the British Isles, Commonwealth, U.S., and more than 295 jurisdictions globally. - Prince's Bieber Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
-A very handy resource, organized alphabetically for easy reference, and providing nearly 36,000 legal abbreviations and acronyms. - World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (Print)
- This four volume set is the most comprehensive guide to foreign and international legal abbreviations. In order to use it effectively, you need to know the jurisdiction of origin for the particular abbreviation. - Index to Citations and Legal Abbreviations (Print)
-Covers abbreviations in the UK, Europe, the Commonwealth, and the U.S.A - Latin American Legal Abbreviations (Print)
-Includes abbreviations for legal publications, as well as government agencies and other organizations. Entries are translated from Spanish and Portuguese into English.
For more help in deciphering foreign and international legal abbreviations, contact Sunil Rao, Foreign and International Law Librarian
Submitted by Sunil Rao, on September 25, 2024
This article appears in the categories: Law Library
