Law

There are many places to look and various formats of information to go when starting your research. We strongly suggest familiarising yourself with using the library catalogue as soon as you can. 

Books and journals

Search the SOAS Library catalogue. This will find print and e-books, print journals, and most (but not always all!) of the e-journals we have access to. 

Widen your search to include other research libraries in the UK and Ireland by using Library Hub Discover. If SOAS does not hold something, another University of London library may hold it, and SOAS staff and students are able to access it. Librarians can also borrow items from other libraries through Inter-library Loan.

Journal articles

If you know the article you are looking for search the library catalogue for the title of the journal, and then find the correct year and volume number to locate the article. In particular, when searching for articles in law journals use Westlaw UK and HeinOnline.

Case law

In many instances where students are referred to specific cases by members of academic staff, direct links will be provided on the reading lists on your Moodle page.

However, if you are looking for cases from specific jurisdictions where you have no direct links or if you want to search case law on a particular topic in a particular jurisdiction, use the available law databases as follows:

• UK: Westlaw UK, LexisLibrary, HeinOnline
• EU: Westlaw UK, LexisLibrary
• International & regional courts: Oxford Reports on International Law, HeinOnline, Westlaw International, Westlaw UK, LexisLibrary
• Australia: LexisLibrary, Westlaw International
• Canada: LexisLibrary, Westlaw International
• China: PKU Law, China Academic Journals
• Hong Kong: LexisLibrary, Westlaw International
• India: SCC
• Ireland: LexisLibrary
• Israel; LexisLibrary
• Kenya: African LII
• Malaysia: LexisLibrary
• New Zealand: LexisLibrary
• Pakistan: Pakistanlawsite
• Singapore: LexisLibrary
• South Africa; LexisLibrary
• South Korea: Westlaw International
• Tanzania: African LII
• Uganda; African LII
• UAE: Lexis Middle East Law
• USA: LexisLibrary, Westlaw International, HeinOnline

Legislation and international treaties

• UK: Westlaw UK, LexisLibrary
• EU: Westlaw UK, LexisLibrary
• International/regional treaties: HeinOnline, Westlaw International, LexisLibrary
• Canada: Westlaw International, LexisLibrary
• China: China Academic Journals (CAJ) 
• Hong Kong:  Westlaw International, LexisLibrary
• India: SCC Online
• Malaysia: LexisLibrary
• Pakistan: Pakistanlawsite
• South Africa: LexisLibrary
• South Korea: Westlaw International
• UAE: Lexis Middle East Law
• USA: Westlaw International, LexisLibrary, HeinOnline

The United Nations Office of Legal Affairs is an especially important additional source for international treaties and agreements, in particular the UN Treaty Collection.

For all other countries/jurisdictions use links provided by the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII).

Newspapers

• World-wide newspapers 1996- (including UK) on Access World News. This includes retrospective access to the Financial Times, up until the previous month.
• UK Newspapers on Lexis Library
• For other sources of newspapers, please consult our list of News Sources.

Theses

• SOAS theses

Some SOAS theses are available online at SOAS Research Online. There is also further information about Finding theses in SOAS Library either in printed or online formats.

• SOAS Research Online

Open access e-print repository of academic publications (articles, book chapters, theses etc.) by SOAS staff and students. Content dates mainly from the 1990s, though the earliest items are from 1959.

• Non-SOAS theses
  • EThOS (Electronic Theses Online) EThOS, provided by the British Library, can be searched to see if a thesis has been digitised. If a thesis is not digitised on EThOS you can make a request for a digital copy to be made.
  • ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: UK & Ireland: Lists all theses accepted for higher degrees at UK universities since 1716, many with abstracts. Check EThOS for availability of full-text.
  • Proquest Theses and Dissertations: Humanities and Social Science Collections Database of US theses and dissertations dating from 1861 to the present day, with full-text access to most theses added since 1997, plus a growing retrospective full-text coverage.
    • [On-campus] / [Off-campus]