Legal literature

Introduction

This guide offers an overview of important resources for finding (international) legal literature. Follow the steps/instructions and find legal books, articles and journals efficiently!
See the Research guides for an overview of books and journals in a specific field of law. Refer to the guide Juridische literatuur - Artikelen en tijdschriften for Dutch articles and journals.

Explanation of resources

• Catalogue: provides information on availability and call numbers of books, journals and more.
• Bibliography: contains references to/overview of articles or books, usually not linked to availability in a library.
• Journal collections: search in full-text digital journals and download or print articles.

Do you need help or do you have suggestions or comments? Please contact us.

Books (resources)

UvA CataloguePlus
Availability and location of books, theses, (e-)journals and more in the UvA library collections.

WorldCat Discovery
Contains materials from more than a thousand libraries all over the world, including catalogues from all Dutch universities, all fields of science, and in various languages. It is possible to request items from other Dutch libraries through ILL.

Find a specific book

1) UvA CataloguePlus

• click Advanced search, select UvA books+ and search using a combination of the author's last name and specific title words;
• click Available at in the search result to find out the call number, location and availability;
• click (when available) Online access, View online or Full text available for digital access.

FOUND NOTHING OR BOOK IS ON LOAN?

2) WorldCat Discovery

• search on a combination of the author's last name and specific title word(s); select Sorted by: Best Match or Recency at the top right;
• use the menu on the left side to refine your search results and select Format: Print Book;
• click on a book title to check availability and supplying institutions;
• click Request this item via interlibrary loan to request the book;
• consult the manual for more information about placing an ILL request.

Search for books on a specific subject

1) UvA CataloguePlus

• click Advanced search and select UvA books+;
• select Any or Subject and type a subject in the search field;
• open a title and click on a keyword (behind Subject) for more titles on this subject;
• click Available at in the search result to find out the call number, location and availability;
• click (when available) Online access, View online or Full text available for digital access.

FOUND NOTHING OR BOOK IS ON LOAN?

2) WorldCat Discovery

• enter a subject in the search box;
• use the menu on the left side to refine your search results and select Format: Print Book;
• in the search results, click on the title to check availability and supplying institutions.
• click Request this item via interlibrary loan to request the book;
• consult the manual for more information about placing an ILL request.

A selection of important (text)books in a specific field of law can be found in our Research guides.
The books in the Law Library collection are placed according to fields of law. A floor plan can be found here.

Articles and journals (resources)

For Dutch articles and journals, refer to the guide Juridische literatuur - Artikelen en tijdschriften.

Beck-online
German legal library with (text)books, commentaries, journal collection, case law and more. Please note that access to BeckOnline is only available within the UvA buildings (no access from home).

CataloguePlus 
Find both print and e-books and references to and articles from (e-)journals in many disciplines. It also searches UvA-DARE, the Academic Repository of the University of Amsterdam.

Google Scholar
Search for scholarly literature and sources (articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions) from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other websites. Contains the UvA-linker (when within the UvA-domain).

HeinOnline
US and international law journal collection grouped by law discipline, legal classics, treaties library, world constitutions and more.

List of law journals
List of law journals, both digital (not exhaustive concerning international journals) and in print available at the Law Library. Contains information on years covered, call number and links to digital versions.
Paper journals (and yearbooks) can be found in the library at call number YA - ZT.

Nexis Uni
Contains among other things law reviews, journals, case law and legal news. Click on Menu (top left hand) and select All sources. Narrow on the left side by Category.

SSRN (Social Science Research Network)
eLibrary consisting of an Abstract Database on scholarly working and forthcoming papers and Electronic Paper Collection with full-text articles (includes a Legal Scholarship Network, LSN).

Westlaw: World Journals
The World Journals collection contains 1.000 leading international journals and law reviews from the US, across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Canada. To quickly search this elaborate collection, search for ‘World Journals’ in the search box from the start page or use the quick link above.

WorldCat Discovery
Global catalogue contains journals and articles from more than a thousand libraries all over the world, all fields of science and various languages.
It is possible to request items from other Dutch libraries through ILL.

Find a specific article or journal

1) CataloguePlus
Select Journals at the top. Enter the journal title in the search box (use " ", e.g. "entertainment law review"):

• Online edition: click Available online to go directly to the online journal;
• Paper edition: click Available at to find out what years are available and in which library.

Too many hits? Refine to Journals (under Refine my results > Resource type).

NO PAPER COPY OF THE JOURNAL AVAILABLE AT THE UVA LIBRARIES OR YEAR OF PUBLICATION NOT COVERED?

2) WorldCat Discovery
Find out if the paper journal is available at another Dutch (university) library by using WorldCat Discovery:

• enter the title of the journal (use " " to phrase the journal title);
• click on the journal title to find out the years covered for each listed library.
• click Request this item via interlibrary loan to request a copy of the article (refer to ILL).

For authoritative journals on a specific field of law, refer to the research guides.

Search for journals or articles on a topic

We recommend using all resources listed below!

Beck-online

• click detailsuche and select ‘Aufsätze’ to search for articles;
• optionally, enter a subject below ‘Rechtsgebiete’;
• enter a search term and click on search (magnifying glass).

Please note that access to BeckOnline is only available within the UvA buildings (access from home only via UvAVPN).

Google Scholar

• When you are connected to the UvA network the UvA-Linker will appear to provide you with the full-text of an article if the library has a subscription.

HeinOnline:

• click on Law Journal Library;
• click on Advanced Search to combine a ‘Text search’ with a Subject;

SSRN (Social Science Research Network)

UvA CataloguePlus

• use the box to search;
• refine your results with the options on the right-hand side;
• tick off ‘expand your results beyond direct availability’ to retrieve more references;
• use the UvA-Linker to locate a hardcopy in the UvA libraries or the Netherlands.

Westlaw - World Journals

• open 'Advanced search'
• use the field 'All of these terms'
• use the Connectors and Expanders to limit or broaden your result.

WorldCat Discovery

• enter your topic in the search box;
• use the menu on the left side to refine your search results and to filter on Format: Article or Journal.

Did you find an interesting title?

• Step 1: check if a digital copy of the article is available at the UvA;
• Step 2: if NOT, see if a paper version of the journal is available at the UvA libraries ('Held by Library University of Amsterdam');
• Step 3: if NOT, click Request this item via interlibrary loan to request a copy from another library in the Netherlands (refer to ILL).

Search tips and more

When you have too many or limited hits:

• use ‘advanced search’ or ‘adjust search’ to limit on location, language or document type;
• try synonyms or word variations;
• use special search characters (“ ”,*, ?, !, #, AND, NOT, OR) when possible.

Refer to the guide Searching, writing and citing for more advanced search techniques and additional resources.