Law: Databases

For listings of open access databases, click HERE.

For full listing of law databases, see: Guide to Electronic Resources Collection.

Selection of the more commonly used databases for case law:

Australia

• Lexis Advance Singapore
  Contains various Australian law reports, Australian Current Law and Casebase.
• WestLaw
  Contains the Commonwealth Law Reports, Federal Court Reports, Federal Law Reports, South Australian State Reports and Australian unreported judgments.
• CCH iKnowConnect
  Database containing Australian Tax Office Rulings.

China

• *China Judgements Online
  Database supported by the Supreme People's Court. Contains the largest collection of judgments and decisions from Chinese courts.
• CNKI Legal Knowledge Integrated Database
  CNKI is a key national research and information publishing institution in China, led by Tsinghua University. The legal section of the database provides access to court judgments.
• Lawinfochina (English version of pkulaw.cn)
  Contains English translations of judicial decisions approved and published by the Supreme People's Court or the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Subject areas include administrative law, civil law, criminal law, economic law, intellectual property law, and maritime law..

Europe

• vlexJustis
  Contains the European Court Reports and Official Journal of the European Communities.

• WestLaw
  Coverage includes decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (General Court), the Civil Service Tribunal and the EFTA Court.

India

• Manupatra
  Cases from the Supreme Court and all High Courts of India.
• SCC Online. Via LawNet (access: NUS Law staff and students; other NUS staff & students)
  Covers judgments of the Supreme Court of India, including the Supreme Court Cases (1969 -).

Malaysia

• CCH iKnowConnect
  Database containing Malaysian tax cases.
• CLJ Law
  Contains the Current Law Journal (CLJ), Supplement series (CLJSupp/MTC/BLJ), Industrial Law Reports (ILR) and Laporan Syariah/Syariah Reports (CLJ(Sya)/SHR).
• Lexis Advance Singapore
  The Malayan Law Journal contains reports of cases from the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Courts (in all states) from 1932.

Singapore

• CCH iKnowConnect
  Database containing Singapore tax cases.
• LawNet (access: NUS Law staff and students; other NUS staff & students)
  Local database containing judgments of the Singapore courts. Also includes unreported judgments and decisions of various boards and tribunals.

Sri Lanka

• Law Lanka
  Contains Sri Lankan reported judgments from the New Law Reports and Sri Lanka Law Reports.

UK

• HeinOnline
  Contains the English Reports.
• ICLR
  Contains the official Law Reports (e.g. AC, QB, Fam and Ch), Weekly Law Reports and Business Law Reports.
• i-law.com
  Informa publications, including the Building Law Reports, Lloyd's Law Reports and Lloyd's Reinsurance Law Reports. 
  Registration link for new users: https://maritime.id.informa.com/registration
• Lexis Advance Singapore
  Cases from the major UK law reporters.
• Times Digital Archive
  Digital online edition of the Times London (1785 - 2014)
• vlexJustis (formerly JustisOne)
  ​Case citator for UK judgments. Also contains the Times Law Reports.

US

• Lexis Advance Singapore
• WestLaw
  Both databases contain US federal court decisions as well as decisions from the various states and territories.

International

• *CML CMI Database
  Database of judicial decisions on international maritime conventions. Contains case summaries, with links to full texts where available. Project undertaken and hosted by the Centre for Maritime Law, National University of Singapore in collaboration with the Comité Maritime International.
• ICC Dispute Resolution Library
  Extracts from ICC arbitral awards published in the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin from 1990 to date.
• Investor-State Law Guide
  Contains publicly available ICSID, NAFTA and ad hoc tribunal decisions, and relevant materials pertaining thereto.
• Jus Mundi
  Search engine for international law and arbitration. Contains decisions from national courts and awards from arbitral tribunals.
• KluwerArbitration
  Major database containing the full text and associated data of both commercial and investment awards.
• Lexis Advance Singapore
  Coverage of cases in the following jurisdictions - Australia, Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States of America.
• Oxford Reports on International Law
  Contains arbitral awards, arbitral decisions, OPIC decisions, international court decisions and national court decisions.
• WestLaw
  Law reports from Australia, Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, Korea, United Kingdom and United States.
• WorldTradeLaw.net
  Full-text search engine for GATT/WTO decisions.

* indicates open access database

For listings of open access databases, click HERE.

For full listing of law databases, see: Guide to Electronic Resources Collection.

Selection of databases frequently used to access legislation and parliamentary materials:

General

• Lexis Advance Singapore
• WestLaw
  Both databases contain legislation from various foreign jurisdictions, including Canada, Hong Kong, UK, US and the European Union.

China

• CNKI Legal Knowledge Integrated Database
  CNKI is a key national research and information publishing institution in China, led by Tsinghua University. The legal section of the database provides access to Chinese legislation and treaties.
• LawInfoChina
  Chinese laws, regulations and tax treaties (Chinese and English versions).

India

• Manupatra
  Coverage includes the Indian Central Bare Acts with all amendments incorporated.

Malaysia

• CLJ Law
  Contains Federal Acts, subsidiary legislation, state legislation, bills and treaties.
• LawNet (Malaysia)
  Access to Malaysian Acts, bills, legislative supplements, and government gazettes. Registration for ID and password required.

Click HERE for full listing.

Singapore

• LawNet (access: NUS Law staff & students; Other NUS staff & students)
  Database containing Singapore statutes and subsidiary legislation.

Click HERE for full listing.

EU and UK

• UK Parliamentary Papers
  Includes 18th and 19th century House of Commons parliamentary papers and 19th century House of Lords parliamentary papers.
• vlexJustis (formerly JustisOne)
  Contains the full text of every UK Act of Parliament passed and given royal assent, including repealed legislation, back to 1235. Also provides access to EU parliamentary questions and legislation.
• WestLaw
  Access to UK and EU legislation.

For a more extensive listing of open access databases, see International and Comparative Law: Treaties & International Conventions.

*CIL Document Database
Database administered by the Centre for International Law (National University of Singapore) containing over 1400 ASEAN and international law and policy documents in areas relevant to CIL’s research.

*International Humanitarian Law Databases
Access to treaties relating to international humanitarian law. Managed by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

KluwerArbitration
Contains treaties and conventions relating to commercial arbitration.

*Language of Peace Database
Tool to search provisions of Peace Agreements. 

*United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law: Historic Archives
Access to the procedural history and related documents (including travaux préparatoires), as well as the text and status of selected legal instruments.

*United Nations Treaty Collection
Free access to the United Nations Treaty Series and Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General.

vlexJustis (formerly JustisOne)
Contains various EU treaties and international agreements.

* indicates open access database

Corpus Juris Secundum (US)
Cited and quoted as authority in courtrooms across the United States, this national legal encyclopaedia covers US state and federal legal topics from A to Z.

Encyclopedia of Law and Religion
Brill database covering issues of freedom of religion or belief and state-religion relations.

Halsbury's Laws of Australia
Explore this Australian legal encyclopaedia by topic or search by keyword.

Halsbury's Laws of England
Authoritative encyclopaedia of the law in England and Wales. Browse by topic or search by keyword.

Halsbury's Laws of Singapore
Provides an updated, narrative statement of the law of Singapore.

Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law
Contains the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law.

Selection of the more commonly used databases:

A. Law Databases

Arbitration Law
Access to leading arbitration journals published by JURIS.

HeinOnline
Full text access in PDF format to an extensive range of Anglo-American and international law journals, reviews and yearbooks.

i-law.com
Access to Informa publications including Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly and International Construction Law Review. 
Registration link for new users: https://maritime.id.informa.com/registration

KluwerArbitration
Journals in this database include Asian Dispute Review, Asian International Arbitration Journal, Journal of International Arbitration and Revue de l'Arbitrage.

LawNet (access: NUS Law staff and students; other NUS staff & students)
Mostly all Singapore law journals and law reviews are available in this database. 

Lexis Advance Singapore
Contains a wide range of law journals from various jurisdictions.

WestLaw
Major legal database containing a wide range of law journals and reviews. 
Registration guide for 1st-time users: https://lib.nus.edu.sg/learning_nus/gen_nus/database/Westlaw/WestLaw_registration_instructions.pdf

B. Non-Law Databases

IBFD Tax Research Platform
Access to tax law journals. Click Search > Journal Articles & Opinion Pieces.

JSTOR
Full text database containing back issues of major scholarly journals in all subject areas, including law.

Nexis Uni 
Although mainly a non-law database, this database has a good selection of legal journals.

SpringerLink
Although this database contains mainly scientific documents, many law-related articles and books can be found here, including materials on cyber law, environmental law, medical law and space law.

Newspapers contain legal commentaries and are also useful for obtaining information on the latest cases before the courts:

Factiva
Access to major local and international newspapers.

Nexis Uni 
Contains more than 15,000 news, legal and business sources.

*NewspaperSG
Digital archive of Singapore and Malaya newspapers published from 1831 to 2017.

Times Digital Archive
Digital online edition of The Times London (1785 - 2014).

* indicates open access database

*Official Document System of the United Nations
The ODS is an online database of UN documents that has full-text, born-digital UN documents published from 1993 onwards, including documents of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiaries, as well as administrative issuances and other documents. It also includes scanned documents published between 1946 and 1993, including all resolutions of the principal organs, all documents of the Security Council and the General Assembly Official Records.

* indicates open access database

Indexes are not full text databases but are useful as they provide citations to articles from a wide range of publications:

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, 1985 -
Covers all forms of non-Anglo American law, including comparative law and legal systems. The database encompasses a variety of document types, including articles from journals, congresses, reports, essay collections and yearbooks.

Index to Legal Periodicals and Books, 1980 -
Index of over 1,100 legal journals, law reviews, yearbooks, institutes, statutes, bar association publications and university publications. Coverage includes periodicals from the US, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

LegalTrac, 1980 -
Coverage of British Commonwealth, European Union, and international law. Provides indexing for more than 1,200 major law reviews, legal newspapers, specialty publications, Bar Association journals, and international legal journals. Provides access to full text articles in databases subscribed by NUS Libraries.

Oxford Bibliographies. International Law
Access to library catalogues, bibliographic indexes, records of court decisions, and other lists containing authoritative international law resources.

Guides on how to access and use NUS Libraries electronic resources: