EU Legal Research

Look for EU law sources at the Hillman Library, the Barco Law Library, and on the Internet.

At the HILLMAN Library
(our main library on campus)

As an official European Documentation Center, the Hillman Library has an extensive collection of current and historical EU institutional publications on microfiche and in various call number ranges.  Search PittCat http://pittcat.pitt.edu  to find hard copies of the documents.   

The University’s Archive of European Integration http://aei.pitt.edu/ is a widely-recognized research authority for official EU documents as well as authoritative independent writings about EU integration and unification.                    

              
The university subscribes to numerous databases for EU research.   http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/euce/content/research-resources         
             

A broad selection of journals about the EU are included within the library system’s electronic journal collection.

http://rt4rf9qn2y.search.serialssolutions.com/

Pitt’s European Union Center promotes EU teaching and research on campus.
http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/euce/

…In the LAW library     

KJE is the beginning of every call number for EU law books.  Within that range, are subject categories of EU law:  

                                                             
KJE 2188- 2635      Commercial law

KJE 2636- 2777      Intellectual Property

KJE 2851- 3199      Labor Law

KJE 3655- 4175      Courts & Procedure

KJE 4441- 5113      Treaties & EU Organization

KJE 5124- 5291      Individual Rights

KJE 5602- 593        Administrative Law

KJE 6172- 6237      Health Law

KJE 6242- 6253      Environmental Law

KJE 6257- 6405      Culture & Education

KJE 6411- 6554      Economic Law

KJE 6569-6825       Trade & Industry Law

KJE 6946-7010       Communication Law

KJE 7050- 7475      Financial Law

KJE 7971-9570       Criminal Law  

FUNDAMENTAL EU LAW SOURCES:

All of these are also available electronically in http://europa.eu/, Lexis, and Westlaw.  …In Lexis
Click on “Find Laws by Country or Region” and then select “European Union. When using Westlaw
look in the directory under “International/Worldwide” and you will see “EU” as a major category.             
                                
Both of these databases have all of the primary European Union law plus secondary sources.

Official Journal L Series  KJE 908

Legislation: directives, decisions, regulations, amended treaties….1991- present.

Official Journal C Series  KJE 908

Communication: parliamentary minutes, court decisions, Commission & Counsel notices, committee statements… 1991-present.
Parliamentary Assembly Series  KJE 138
Adopted texts, debates, and documents.

European Court Reports  KJE 924.5
Decisions of the ECJ and the Court of First Instance.  1954-present.

Common Market Law Reports KJE 923.7

Weekly.  Has opinions from EU courts, Commission decisions, and national courts.  See also Westlaw.

Bulletin of the European Union KJE 6417 .B84  Monthly summary of institutions’ work.

The General Report KJE 6414.8 .C66 has annual descriptive essays & detailed analysis of completed work.

European Court of Human Rights cases

KJC 5132-5144                        
This court hears cases from throughout Europe, not just EU member states.   Online at http://www.echr.coe.int  

…On the Internet

                                          
To browse through resources in various subject areas, begin your research on the Web page of a Directorate General. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs_en.htm
Each Directorate General page has primary law, speeches, data, policy reports, etc…

Use the European Commission’s library catalog to do a keyword search for secondary or primary materials, including journal articles.  It links to full-text.   http://ec.europa.eu/eclas/F

A glossary with long clear explanations about EU institutions and activities is at http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/index_en.htm.    

Read introductions to EU law and policy
http://www.eurunion.org and summaries of legislation. http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/index_en.htm

Peruse the alphabetical index to EU topics to find a specific issue or office:
http://www.eurunion.org/infores/euindex.htm
                          
               

Use Eur-Lex              

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm to access the official journals, case opinions, legislative history, and legislative summaries.


Find case-law through a subject list, digest, or search form. http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/

    

The main Web page for official EU documents is Europa.

http://europa.eu/index_en.htm  You can click on the documents block in the middle of that screen or go straight to the documents page to find each institution’s documents.
http://europa.eu/geninfo/atoz/en/index_1_en.htm    

EU Treaties and explanations of each are at
http://europa.eu/abc/treaties/index_en.htm.