Jump to the next navigation bar : Jump to the page contents
About Globalex

UPDATE: Sources of Online Legal Information for African Countries

 

By Jane Williams

 

Jane Williams is Foreign, Comparative and International Law Librarian at Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Memorial Law Library. She holds a JD & MSLS from the Wayne State University (Detroit).

 

Published May/June 2011

See the Archive Version!

 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Secondary Sources

2.1 News Sources

2.2 Indexes and Catalogs

3. Primary Sources

    3.1 Subscription Database

3.2 Regional Collections

3.3 Subject Collections

3.4 Resources by Country

4. Regional Organizations

1. Introduction

The purpose of this article is to identify online resources for locating the legal materials of African states.  It will first identify meta-sites useful for both background information and links to legal information.  The next part will identify secondary sources, which can help locate sources and issues.  The third section will list primary sources grouped by region, topic, and country.  The final part will list the web sites of some African regional organizations.

 

Africa has about fifty-four states plus six dependent territories.  The post-colonial period, through much of the continent, has been characterized by political instability, civil strife, war, economic underdevelopment, and weak legal systems.  Thus, only a few African countries have a strong history of publishing and disseminating legal materials.  A useful source for determining what legislative materials are published for each jurisdiction is the Reynolds and Flores [[1]] treatise. It is also available as an online subscription. 

 

In the past decade, there has been a trend in some countries toward better governance and transparency.  Increasing numbers of governments have web sites and/or parliamentary sites, some of which provide news, government reports, and other documents. Meta sites, which include links to governments’ web sites, country information, and legal information, include the following:

 

2. Secondary Sources

Given that there are a limited number of comprehensive databases or internet sites for the legal materials of African countries, and that few law libraries have complete collections, secondary materials are important for identifying issues, recent developments, and documents.  These include news sources, indexes and library and institute catalogues, journals, and papers. 

2.1 News Sources

  • AllAfrica.com aggregates news sources from African organizations and elsewhere.  A basic version with a topical search function is freely available.  By subscribing, one has access to an archive going back to 1996 and the ability to search by key word, category, publisher, and date. 
  • Jurist from the University of Pittsburgh provides country-by-country legal news for about a dozen African countries.
  • The BBC News Africa service is another good source for current information.  This service also includes country profiles with country overviews, basic facts and political information, and list of newspapers and other media.
  • The African Law Firm Network, Lex Africa , provides legal  news and informational pieces about commercial matters.

2.2 Indexes and Catalogues

  • General online indexes with references to articles relating to legal issues include the two databases from AfricaBib:  Bibliography of Africana Periodical Literature and African Women’s Bibliographic Databases.  Both can be searched by geographic region, periodical, subject, author, title, keyword, and date.  A few articles link to full text.
  • The Quarterly Index of African Periodical Literature from the Library of Congress is another general Africana index which includes references to law-related articles.
  • The African Studies Centre (Leiden) is an independent institute which researches social science issues relating to Africa.  Its library catalogue identifies monographs, articles, and book chapters, some of which are related to law.  The web site also includes the full text of working papers and other publications.

3. Primary Sources

One can find online legal materials for African countries in fee-based databases, within subject or regional collections, and on various country specific sites.  Few of the internet sites are comprehensive and it can sometimes be difficult to determine the currency of the information. 

 

3.1  Subscription Database

·       Vlex   has legislation collections for about half the African states,  most of which are not  current.

3.2 Regional Collections

  • L’Association des Cours Constitutionnelles ayant en Partage l’Usage Français (ACCPUF) provides laws relating to constitutional institutions, some jurisprudence, and other material from its member states.
  • The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, has a collection of legislation from southern and eastern Africa which includes children’s rights, customary practices, domestic violence, employment, equality and non-discrimination, HIV, property rights, and right to health care.  It also includes case law concerning issues relating to HIV.
  • Droit-Afrique.com is a web portal to business law in French-speaking Africa.  It includes commercial, customs, investment, employment, social security, and tax laws as well as materials from regional organizations.
  • The International Documentation Network on the Great African Lakes Region is an interesting collection of materials from a variety of governmental and nongovernmental sources.  Included are Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.  A search may locate laws and decrees although it is somewhat difficult to determine what material is included.  Note too that if French, not English, is one of the official languages of a country a search in French will generate more results for primary legal materials for that country.  The latest documents were added in January 2007.
  • Investir en zone franc was developed in 1998 by the Commission de l’Union Économique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA) and the Secrétariat Exécutif de la Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale (CEMAC).  UEMOA has eight members:  Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.  CEMAC has six: Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, and Chad.  The individual country sites include links to various full texts or summaries of codes and pieces of legislation.  In addition, some national legislation which implements CEMAC decisions is published in Les Journaux Officiels.
  • Legis-Palop   is a project designed to collect the legislation and jurisprudence of the five Portuguese-speaking countries:  Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome & Principe.  The site requires registration to search the site.  Some material is available with registrations but other items require a subscription..
  • Réseau d’information pour le développement durable en Afrique centrale  provides various environmental laws including those relating to forests, water, mines, and energy for Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon.
  • The Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa provides selected legislation of Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  The last update was in 2009.

3.3 Subject Collections

 

Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations provides three databases:

  • FAOLex is an up to date database of national laws and regulations relating to food, agriculture, and natural resources.  It includes most African countries and provides links to full text documents. 
  • FishLex provides laws and regulations on coastal state requirements for foreign fishing.   
  • WaterLex has international agreements on water resources.

 

Business Law

  • The Doing Business Law Library from the World Bank provides laws and regulations relating to business.  Topics included are banking and credit laws, bankruptcy and collateral laws, civil codes, civil procedure codes, commercial and company laws, constitutions, labor laws, land and building laws, security laws, tax laws, and trade laws.  One can search by economy (the name of a state) or topic.

 

Competition Law

 

Constitutions

 

Copyright, Patents, and Trademarks

  • UNESCO’s Collection of Copyright Laws includes the laws of about twenty African countries. 
  • The Collection of Laws for Electronic Access from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) provides texts for copyright, trademarks and patent legislation in English, French, and Spanish.  WIPO’s collection of copyright legislation overlaps somewhat with the UNESCO collection but it also includes about a dozen countries not included in the UNESCO database.

 

Criminal Law

 

Drugs

  • The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime provides a Legal Library of money laundering and drug legislation which countries have passed to implement international drug conventions.

 

Health Law

  • Annual Review of Population Law  “contains a database of summaries and excerpts of legislation, constitutions, court decisions, and other official government documents relating to population policies, reproductive rights and health, women's status and rights, children and adolescents, HIV/AIDS and related topics.”
  • The International Digest of Health Legislation from the World Health Organization (WHO) is a searchable database with either links to full text or citations to official sources.

 

Humanitarian Law

  • The International Committee of the Red Cross provides two databases on international humanitarian law:
    • The Treaty Databases includes the four Geneva Conventions, their protocols and ratification information. 
    • The National Implementation Database has two parts.  The first provides legislation relating to humanitarian law, including relevant penal provisions and laws relating to war crimes and the military.  The second part provides related case law. 

 

Investment and Trade

  • FDI.net, from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, includes treaties, laws and regulations for a few African countries which are relevant to investors, including those relating to trade, foreign investment, and taxes.  It also provides business law overviews for most countries.

 

Labor Law

  • The International Labour Organization (ILO) database NATLEX provides labor laws as well as laws on other subjects such as economic and social policy, free trade, and criminal law.  Some of the sites provide full text in English, Spanish or French while others provide only citations.

 

Land Law

  • JurisAfrica is an online law reporting service owned by African Law Reporter Online.  It intends to publish constitutions, judgments of the superior courts, legislation and articles.  Currently there are only a few items available, most of which relate to land law and customary law.

 

Non-Profit Law

  • The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law provides the text of laws governing various issues related to non-governmental organizations, including about twenty-two African countries.  One must register to use the site but otherwise the documents are freely available.

 

Occupational Safety and Health

 

Refugees

  • RefWorld Legal Collection is a database from the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees which provides the full text of national laws and cases and international legislation
  • Relevant to assessing asylum claims.  It also includes laws on citizenship, nationality, statelessness, human rights, and related issues.

 

Tax and Commercial Law

  • World Wide Tax Service from Thompson RIA is a subscription service which includes tax and commercial laws for most African countries.  The currency of the material, however, is sometimes questionable.

 

3.4 Resources by Country

 

Algeria

Collections

  • Droit Algerie is a web portal to Algerian law from the Ministry of Justice.  It can be viewed in French or Arabic.  The site provides access to the constitution, codes, legislation and treaties to which Algeria is a party.   Supreme Court judgments are available in Arabic only.
  • Lex Algeria, the Algerian law portal, includes selected codes relating to public and private law as well as links to jurisprudence from the Conseil Constitutionnel from 1989 and the Conseil d’Etat from 1999.  Some decisions are in English, but the French and Arabic versions are more comprehensive.
  • The National Assembly (Assemblée Populaire Nationale) site contains legislation adopted in the last three sessions.

 

Law and Legislation.

 

Research Guide

 

Angola

Law and Legislation

  • The Assembleia Nacional web site provides a list of sessions laws from 1992 through 2001 with a few links to full text documents.
  • The government portal site provides a searchable database of legislation in force.   Each government ministry web site also includes links to legislation within its area of responsibility.  The legislation from the government site is also available via SAFLII.

 

Research Guide

 

Benin

Law and Legislation

  • The Bénin government web site provides the Code des Investissments,  the Code de l’Hygiène Publique, and the Code Électoral.

 

Jurisprudence

 

Botswana

Law and Legislation

  • The Attorney General’s Chambers publishes the Laws of Botswana. These are current as of the end of 2009 and the site includes a list current legislation.
  • The government website includes links to ministries and authorities, several of which publish legislation in their area of responsibility.

 

Jurisprudence

  • SAFLII database  includes selected decisions from the High Court of Botswana (1999- ), the Appeal Court of Botswana

 (1981-), and the Industrial Court (2004- ).

 

Research Guide

 

Burkina Faso

Law and Legislation

  • Banque de Données Juridiques du Burkina provides Le Journal Officiel from 1993.  It includes laws, ordinances, decrees, decisions, notices and other official government communications and is searchable by key word, type of material and body issuing the document, and citation to the JO. 
  • The Premier Ministère web site includes a list of the web sites of other government ministries.  Several of these provide legislation relating to their area of responsibility.

 

Jurisprudence

  • JuriBurkina provides selected judgments from the Cour de Cassation, Conseil Constitutionnel, Conseil d’Etat, Cour d’appel de Bobo Dioulasso, Tribunal du Travail de Ouagadougou, Tribunal de Travail de Bobo Dioulasso and Tribunal de Grande Instance de  Bobo Dioulasso.

 

Research Guide

 

Burundi

Law and Legislation

  • The Assemblée Nationale website  includes laws passed from 2006-.

 

Research Guide

 

Cameroon

Law and Legislation

  • Global Legal Information network (GLIN) provides legislation from 1974 in French and English.
  • The National Assembly website   includes laws adopted since 2006.
  • The Prime Minister’s Office web site provides a searchable collection of laws, ordinances, decrees, orders and decisions.  The site can be viewed in French or English but some material is only available in French.  Recent legislation is also on the presidency’s website.

Research Guide

 

Cape Verde

Law and Legislation

 

Jurisprudence

 

Central African Republic

Law and Legislation

 

Chad

Collections

  • CEFOD (Centre d’etude de formation pour le développement) provides various legal materials including selected codes and other legislation.  Revue juridique tchadienne, which reports some jurisprudence and legislation, is also linked from the site.

 

Research guide

 

Congo (Democratic Republic)

Collections

  • Droit de la Republique Democratique du Congo   provides legislation arranged into nine subject categories; some provincial legislation;  jurisprudence;  and books, articles, studies and a legal bibliography.  Much of the material is from the Journal Officiel but the subject arrangement allows material to be found more easily.
  • Leganet   is another ongoing project to increase access to the legal materials of the DRC.  As of this writing it includes the Journal Officiel from 2002; some  legislation from 1886-2007; jurisprudence from the Cour Supreme  de  Justice  for 1985 and 1986; and some commentary (doctrine).

 

Database

 

Law and Legislation

 

Research Guide

Djibouti

Law and Legislation

  • Le Journal Officiel, available from 1996, includes laws, presidential and ministerial ordinances, decrees and orders, announcements and legal orders.  It can be searched by date, subject index, and type of legal document.
  • The official website  includes a list of ministries, some of which have legislation relating to their area of responsibility.

 

Egypt

Law and Legislation

  • The government web portal   has several laws in English translation, including Environment Law, Law of Investment Guarantees and Incentives, Labour Law, General Sales Tax, and Central Securities Depository and Registry Law.   Other laws are in Arabic.

 

Research Guide

 

Equatorial Guinea

Law and Legislation

 

Gabon

Collections

 

Law and Legislation

 

Research Guide

 

Gambia

Law and Legislation

·       The Central Bank of the Gambia   links to the Banking Act (2009), the Money Laundering Act (2003), the Central Bank Act (2005), and to other materials relating to banking regulation.

·       The Gambia Investments and Free Zones Agency includes the Gambia Investment Promotion Act, Free Zones Act 2001 and other laws relevant to business such as environmental and tax laws.

 

Ghana

Subscription database

  • The Ghana Law Database, provided by DataCenta Ltd, includes laws of the Fourth Republic (1992- ), the Consolidated Statutes of Ghana, business and financial laws, all volumes of the Ghana Law Reports, four law journals, and legal news.  The Ghana Law Reports, however, have not been published since 1994.

 

Legislation

  • The Bank of Ghana website  includes the Banking Act, Banking and Financial Laws of Ghana: 1998-2006, and Banking and Financial Laws of Ghana: 2006-2008.
  • Bills from the current session and a few acts can also be found on the Parliament website
  • The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre provides the Technology Transfer Regulations, the Tourism Law, Ghana Free Zones Act (Act 504), and the Ghana Investment Act.

 

Jurisprudence

  • CommonLII provides selected Ghana land law decisions.

 

Research Guide

 

Guinea

Law and Legislation

 

Research Guide

 

Ivory Coast

Law and Legislation

 

Kenya

Databases

  • Kenya Law Reports, from the National Council for Law Reporting, provides an up to date edition of the Laws of Kenya in a searchable database.  Cases from the High Court and Court of Appeal (1980- ) are also searchable but not all the cases are online.  Kenya Law Reports also includes the Kenya Gazette from 2008, the 2006 Hansard and other material.   As of 2009, the material was freely available.

 

Subscription Database

  • Africa Law Reports from LawAfrica include judgments from Kenya’s courts.

 

Research Guide

 

Lesotho

Law and Legislation

  • The government website    includes links to government ministries, a few of which have legislation for the ministry’s area of responsibility. 
  • CommonLII provides some legislation for 1981 and 1994-2000.

 

Jurisprudence

  • SAFLII provides decisions from the High Court and the Court of Appeal since 1980 and for the Labour court since 1994.

 

Research Guide

Liberia

Law and Legislation

  • The Central Bank website includes banking regulations and guidelines.
  • The Ministry of Finance   provides links to the Public Financial Management Act (2010),, Public Procurement & Concessions Act (2005), rules and regulations, and other materials related to finance.
  • The National Elections Commission   web site provides links to election laws and regulations.

 

Research Guide

 

Other

  • Liberian Law at Cornell includes a digitized collection of historical statues, a few Supreme Court decisions relating to election law, and an index to the first 27 volumes of the Liberian Law Reports.

 

Libya

Legislation

 

Research Guide

 

Madagascar

Law and Legislation

  • L’Assemblée nationale website includes acts from 1994 to date.  Searchable but not browse-able except by entering a year as a search term.
  • The presidency website  provides links to government ministries, some of which include legislation on their web sites.

                                    

Jurisprudence

 

Malawi

Collections

  • Malawi Legal Information Institute  provides some acts for 1994-1996, 1998, 2000, and 2003-2005; and decisions from the Supreme Court of Appeal (1993 and 1995-2010); the High Court (1993-1994 and 1996-2011); the Commercial Court (2006-2008); and the Industrial Relations Court (1994 and 2000-2011).

 

Law and Legislation

  • The Parliament website links to a few acts,  bills,  and Hansards from 1998-2006.
  • The Malawi SDNP web site, a UNDP supported government program, links to legislation relating to communications, the environment, employment, local government, and workers compensation.
  • The Reserve Bank of Malawi website   links to banking and financial legislation.

 

Research Guide

 

Mali

Law and Legislation

  • As part of PRODEJ (Programme Décennal de Développement de la Justice) the Ministry of Justice provides the text of major codes, other recently adopted legislation, and other legal texts.
  • Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances website  links to the Loi des finances 2001 and other finance related documents.
  • Secretáriat Général du Gouvernement, the government department responsible for publishing laws in Mali, provides legislation from 1994-2001 plus a few items from 2006.

 

Research Guide

 

Mauritania

Law and Legislation

  • GLIN provides the text of over five hundred laws, decrees and ministerial orders from 1963 to about 2004.
  • L’Autorité de Régulation web site has laws and ministerial decrees and decisions relating to the postal service, water, and telecommunications.
  • Banque Centrale provides financial and banking legislation and related materials.
  • Code des Investissements  is linked from the Ministère des Affaires Economiques et du Développement website
  • LegiMauritanie  from NTIPO has selected legislation from the Journal Officiel for 1990-2001 and 2005.

 

Mauritius

Law and Legislation

  • The National Assembly provides current acts, Hansards,  and  bills and their status.  The archives section has bills introduced for 2001-2010.
  • The archives section has bills introduced for 2001-2010.
  • Bank of Mauritius  links to banking legislation. 
  • The government portal site provides a collection of links to laws and regulations posted on other government bodies’ web sites.
  • The Supreme Court website  includes legislation, bills, and regulations from 2009. 
  • CommonLII includes legislation for 2003-2005.
  • The Institute for Environmental and Legal Studies website provides links to laws relating to environmental protection, occupational health and safety, and town and country planning.

 

Jurisprudence

 

Morocco

Law and Legislation

 

Research Guide

Mozambique

Subscription database

  • Atenia provides a subscription service to series one of the Boletim da República de Moçambique from June 1975 to date.

 

Collections

 

Law and Legislation

  • Banco de Moçambique  provides banking laws, decrees, and other related materials.
  • GLIN has English summaries of primary and secondary legislation from 1975 with full text in Portuguese of some legislation from 1996 to the present.
  • The government portal site  provides links to legislation organized by sector and to series III of the Boletim da República.
  • LexMozambique consists of the Boletim da República (1975-2010) and several codes.  The search engine allows searching by type of document, name, issuing body and/or subject or one can browse by date and issue.  Using the site requires registration but as of now, downloading the documents is free.

 

Namibia

Subscription database

  • Juta provides subscription services to the current consolidation of statutes and to the Namibian Law Reports for decisions of all superior courts since independence in 1990.

 

Collections

  • Southern African Legal Information Institute SAFLII provides a partial collection of   the Government Gazettes (1990-2007); acts (1990-1995, 1998, 2000, and 2003-2009); and decisions from the High Court (1992- ), the Supreme Court (1990- ), and the Labour Court (1993-1994 and 2005- ).

 

Law and Legislation

  • The Parliament website includes selected acts for 1990-1992 and 2001 to the present, bills from the current Parliament, and other legislative materials.
  • The government web site ministry index has links to offices, agencies, and ministries, some of which provide legislation relating to their area of authority. 
  • CommonLII provides some laws from 1991-1992, 1995, and 2002-2005.

 

Research Guide

 

Niger

Legislation

  • L’Assemblée nationale website  lists laws adopted from 2000-2007 but there is no full text.

 

Nigeria

Collection

  • Nigeria Law provides federal laws still in force and the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (2000), a list of laws passed from 1990 to 2006 that are still in force as of 2006, and procedural rules for the various courts.  It also includes decisions from the Nigerian Law Reports and other judgments.  This material is also available via CommonLII.

 

Law and Legislation

  • The House of Representatives website   includes acts and House bills from 1999, bill status, Hansards, and other legislative materials.  The Senate also has these acts and Senate bills.

 

Research Guide

 

Rwanda

Law and Legislation

  • The Ministry of Justice provides the Laws and Codes of Rwanda in English and French.  These are organized into five volumes corresponding to the following broad subject areas: constitutional law, political institutions, treaties and international conventions; administrative law; judicial and criminal law; economic and financial law; and civil and social law.
  • The Prime Minister’s website   provides the Official Gazette (Journal Officiel) from 2004 in English, French, and Kinyarwanda.
  • The official government website  provides a list of ministries and agencies, several of which have legislation in their area of responsibility.

 

Jurisprudence

  • The Supreme Court web site provides decisions for 2005 and 2006 in Kinyarwanda with a case table in French.

 

Special Tribunal

 

Research Guide

 

Sao Tome and Principe

Legislation

  • Juristep  provides the text of labor, petroleum, and industrial property laws and summaries of other legislation.
  • Assembleia Nacional website  includes some legislation arranged by topic.

 

Senegal

Legislation

  • The official government website    includes ten online codes, laws, and recent official texts such as presidential and ministerial decrees.

 

Jurisprudence

  • ACCPUF (Association des Cours Constitutionnelles ayant en Partage l’Usage du Français) includes decisions from the Conseil constitutionnel for the period 1993-2005.  Theses are contained in a single PDF document.

 

Seychelles

Legislation

 

Jurisprudence

·       Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII) provides decisions from the Supreme Court (2004- ), the Constitutional Court (2000- ), and the Court of Appeal (2004-2009).

 

Sierra Leone

Legislation

 

Special Tribunal

 

Research Guide

 

South Africa

Subscription databases

  • Juta has several internet and CD-ROM products, which provide comprehensive access to both government and provincial legal materials.
  • LexisNexis Butterworths South Africa is another major provider of South African legal materials.
  • Sabinet provides full text access to government and provincial gazettes and parliamentary bills.

 

Collections

  • Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII)  provides a link to legislation from Polity and includes decisions from many courts including the Constitutional Court

(1995-), the Supreme  Court of Appeal (1984-) , the Labour Appeal Court (1997-), Labour Court (1997-),  Land Claims Court (1996-), the Competition Tribunal (1999-), Competition Appeal Court (2000-), Electoral Court (2001-2009), and the provincial courts.

 

Law and Legislation

  • The Parliament of South Africa provides the full text of laws from 1993 and bills from 1998.  The Parliament site also provides links to the provincial parliaments, some of which have legislation online.
  • Polity: Policy and Law News Online is a privately run site which provides acts from 1993, bills from 1993, other materials such as policy documents, reports, notices and regulations, and speeches.
  • The official web site of the South African government also provides links to laws, bills, regulations, parliamentary documents, and reports.  It also provides links to provincial documents such as bills, acts, reports, policies, and publications.

 

Jurisprudence

In addition to the SAFLII database, the following courts provide decisions on their web sites:

 

Research guide

Southern Sudan

Southern Sudan became an autonomous region following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005.   The voters passed a referendum for independence and the Southern Sudan is expected to become an independent state on 9 July 2011.

 

Law and Legislation

  • The official website   of the government of the Southern Sudan has posted legislation passed by the autonomous government.
  • The Gurtong Trust website  also has legislation as well as documents related to the peace process and post referendum materials.

 

Sudan

Law and Legislation

  • The Sudan.net web portal has a directory of ministries and other agencies a few of which have legislation related to their area of responsibility.

 

Research Guide

 

Swaziland

Legislation

 

Jurisprudence

 

Research Guide

 

Tanzania

Subscription databases

  • Juta provides the Tanzania Law Reports (1983-1997).
  • Law Africa Law Reports from LawAfrica includes judgments from Tanzania’s courts.

 

Law and Legislation

  • POLIS (Parliamentary On-Line Information System on the Parliament website  provides a searchable database of laws from 1962 to the present.  The Parliament site also provides current bills and their status.   Hansards for the current Parliament are available in Kiswahili.  The legislation is also available on SAFLII  through 2008.
  • The Ministry of Finance  provides links to er tax, revenue, and related legislation.

 

Jurisprudence

  • SAFLII contains the Court of Appeal (200o-2009 and a few earlier years) and High Court (1998, 2006-2007).

 

Research Guide

 

Togo

Collections

  • Ministère de la Justice  has a collection of laws published in the Journaux Officiels between 1960 and 2008 and decisions from the Cour Constitutionelle (1997-2007) and Cour Supreme (1963-2008).

 

Law and Legislation

 

Tunisia

Law and Legislation

  • Juriste Tunisie is a large French language database arranged by subject which provides codes, laws and decrees related to both public and private law. 
  • GLIN provides over one hundred law and decrees from 1995-2010 most of which are published in Arabic with English summaries.
  • The full text of laws and regulations relating to financial markets is available on the Bourse de Tunis web site.

 

Research Guide

 

Uganda

Subscription database

  • Africa Law Reports from LawAfrica include judgments from Uganda’s courts.
  • Uganda Online Law Library   is a subscription service providing access to laws, statutory instruments, and judicial decisions.   A few items are free including selected legislation, subsidiary legislation, a cause list, directory information and a few judgments.

 

Collection

  • The Uganda Legal Information Institute provides legislation as consolidated in 2000 and selected decisions for the following courts:  Commercial Court (2000- ), Constitutional Court (1997- ), Court of Appeal (1997- ), High Court (1970-1975; 1990- ),  Supreme Court (1997- ), and  decisions from the Center for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution.

 

Research Guide

 

Zambia

Subscription database

  • Juta provides the Zambia Law Reports (1963-1997).

 

Collections

 

Law and Legislation

  • Zambian Parliament provides the 26 volume Laws of Zambia, a 1996 compilation of all laws passed since independence.  It also includes recent acts, and debates and proceedings of recent sessions of Parliament.

 

Zimbabwe

Subscription database

  • Juta provides a subscription service to the statutes of Zimbabwe (revised edition 1996) and case law.

 

Law and Legislation

 

Jurisprudence

  • SAFLii   provides Supreme Court and High Court  decisions for 2002--

 

Research Guide

4. Web Sites of Regional Organizations

 

 


[[1]] Thomas H. Reynolds & Arturo A. Flores, Foreign Law Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World (Buffalo, N.Y.: Wm. S. Hein & Co., 1989-)