LibGuides: Secured Transactions Comparative Research: Getting Started

Introduction

Guide Purpose / Scope

This guide is meant to direct you to primary and secondary material on international secured transactions law. The listings here are not comprehensive. They should provide you, though, with a variety of types of sources that will lead you to relevant data on the subject. Hopefully it will save you time in any related research project you undertake.

The guide is focused on comparative law sources, and meant to complement the comparative component treatment in LAW5061 the FIU COL course on Secured Transactions.

Suggested Search Strategy

In comparative law research you must Initially acquire a broad overview of the law in the different jurisdictions being studied. You can then narrow your search to a more specific focus. As always, secondary sources should be consulted early in the process. A general suggested progression is set out below.

Research Order:		Purpose:
Background Sources These include Treatises, Comparative Law encyclopedias, Model Laws, Journal articles, and even current awareness sources such as news and blogs.		Browse an overview of the country's commercial law system to familiarize yourself with the topic. Print treatises are important at this stage. Commentaries on a country's finance laws identify the rules and issues involved, as well as primary sources. The legal databases all have some 'secondary sources' coverage on this topic, a few treatises, and are a good source for locating journal articles.

Primary Sources Especially national legislation, but also including Conventions, Treaties, Bilateral agreements, Rules, and case law if controlling.		To provide controlling authority and basis for any argument or position in your papers. Many of these sources are freely available online.

Organization web sites Among them: UNCITRAL, UNIDROIT, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)		Provide additional material and up to date information on court decisions. The sites also contain statistical and other useful data.

Internet Resources		For material not found elsewhere.

Return to prior steps as necessary