Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Introducing Westlaw China

The Duke community now has access to two online research services for Chinese legal materials. In addition to en.pkulaw.cn (formerly known as Law Info China), the Goodson Law Library has just subscribed to Westlaw China. Both databases are available to the Duke University community, with a NetID and password required for off-campus access. The Legal Databases & Links page provides quick access to both services.

Both Westlaw China and en.pkulaw.cn offer bilingual access to Chinese statutes, regulations, case law, legal news, and journal articles, but each service has unique strengths and collections. A comparison chart prepared by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library highlights these differences: Westlaw China and en.pkulaw.cn each include the full text of laws and regulations since 1949. However, Westlaw China's case law is only available in Chinese for full text, with headnote descriptions in English. Westlaw China contains more English-language journals and treatises, as well as model contracts and a legal glossary.

Of course, the Goodson Law Library collection contains additional books and other materials on Chinese law. To locate them, search the Duke Libraries Catalog for the subject heading Law – China, or more specific areas of law (such as criminal law -- china. For help with researching in both print and online resources, be sure to Ask a Librarian.