LibGuides: Law: Databases

Databases

It's very simple. You can access any of the Library's databases just by searching the Library Catalogue. Simply enter the name of the database in the search box and click on the database link in the search results. Remember to log in for full access.

Getting to the full-text

There are two main kinds of database:

Bibliographic - they won't show you the full paper straight away, but you can often read an abstract and see the author details. You'll need to check using if the library has access to the journal article
Full text - will let you open and read the article directly from the list of results

Law Databases

Law uses a broad range of databases to supplement and where appropriate replace printed materials.

The legal databases broadly offer access to:

caselaw
journals
legislation

The most popular Law databases are:

Westlaw IE Westlaw IE is our main Irish Law database containing caselaw journals and legislation.
vLex Justis This caselaw database contains the Irish Reports from 1839-. It contains the (UK)Law Reports (the Appeals Cases, Kings/Queens Bench, Chancery, Probate/Family) from 1865-. The European Court of Justice reports are also available. Funded by IREL
Westlaw (UK & International) Westlaw provides superb access to UK European and International Law. All the main UK law reports are covered including European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights. 100s of journals available in UK and International Law. Limited Irish coverage except for Legal Journals Index
Lexis Plus (prev. Lexis Butterworths) LexisButterworths (LnB) is the Law Interface for LexisNexis Professional. Contains case reports journals legal citators from Ireland UK European Union and around the world. Use the browse tab to search for particular resources such as Irish Reports international journals etc.
Hein-On-Line A comprehensive collection of over 900 legal research journals. Also includes World Trials Library and Foreign and Foreign & International Law Resources Database.
Oxford bibliographies International law Oxford Bibliographies provides faculty and students alike with a seamless pathway to the most accurate and reliable resources for a variety of academic topics. Every article in this database is an authoritative guide to the current scholarship, written and reviewed by academic experts, with original commentary and annotations.

Depending on the publishers these databases will focus on Irish or UK or International Sources. It is only through practice and experience that you will get used to the different content and facilities that the databases provide.

More databases relevant to Law are available here

Interdisciplinary databases indexing legal interest journal articles

Web of Science

Search the world’s leading scholarly journals, books, and proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities and navigate the full citation network. Summaries of journal articles with some linked full text.

Scopus

Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database containing both peer-reviewed research literature and quality web sources. With over 18,000 titles from more than 5,000 publishers, Scopus offers researchers a quick, easy and comprehensive resource to support their research needs in the scientific, technical, medical, social sciences and arts & humanities fields

The Library has created various tutorials on using aspects of the Law Databases. Go to the Online Tutorials tab to view these tutorials.

For Legal Abbreviations: Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations

Another useful resource is: Murdoch and Hunt’s Encyclopedia of Irish Law

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