Overview of Select Databases for Spanish-Speaking Jurisdictions

By Lorena Abrodos Arrúa

Lorena Abrodos Arrúa is a Librarian who currently works as a freelancer editor, assisting and proofreading different law databases and articles, including the FLG (Foreign Law Guide), and correcting academic thesis citations. She was responsible for the Lending Area at the Max von Buch Library of the Universidad de San Andrés in Buenos Aires, where she also oversaw the citation workshops for thesis students. She is a native of Argentina, and she obtained a tertiary degree in Library Science.

Published March/April 2025

(Previously updated by Gloria Orrego Hoyos in July 2015)

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1. Introduction

In the opening years of the 21st century, Computer-Assisted Legal Research (CALR) and the nearly universal access to data fostered by the World Wide Web (WWW) have synergistically melded to yield a metaphorical explosion of access to legal material on a global level, as demonstrated by resources such as GlobaLex, LLRX, and several commercial databases. This article seeks to highlight a sample of the more useful commercial and open-access databases and a selection of databases offering access to primary and secondary legal material important to Spanish-speaking jurisdictions.

Despite the recent access to information that the World Wide Web has allowed, the focus on Spanish-speaking jurisdictions is motivated by the fact that the dissemination of legal publications in Latin America has experienced little fundamental change since Fernando Figueredo characterized these systems as “chaotic” over thirty-five years ago.[1] While this is partially attributable to the political changes in the region noted above, many structural issues exacerbate this chaos. Figueredo aptly noted that in the field of legal publishing, “Latin American countries, with very few exceptions, almost completely lack any organized system of indexing.”[2] Rightly or wrongly, as internet search engines subsume the role of traditional indexes, the WWW has become a default (and rather faulty) de facto index to serve this lack. This reliance upon technology to serve functions traditionally performed by professionals has not only affected librarians and indexers (as the PDF format comes to “stand in” for an informal mark of authenticity), but some of the databases described below have provided documents that, by their mode of presentation or publication, usurp a role that had been traditionally performed by notaries or notarios.

It is the nature of web-based legal research to be somewhat recursive in that researchers often find multiple entry points for their queries, and these entry points often refer to each other as well. This brief article aspires to present evaluations that guide the time-pressed researcher, so that she may focus on those sources that provide access to materials of the greatest value and avoid sources of lesser value. I hope that the novice librarian working in Foreign, Comparative, and International Legal Research (FCIL Research) will gather some critical entry points into accessing and evaluating some of the major databases providing access to Spanish-language legal materials from this article. While space has prevented a thorough analysis of every online source, the databases analyzed below are educational examples; some by their accomplishments, and some by what they lack.

2. Threshold Considerations on Evaluation of FCIL Databases and Online Sources

2.1. Content-Related Threshold Issues

At a minimum, the FCIL librarian must be comfortable with the official or the business language(s) of the jurisdiction in question. FCIL librarians should have some understanding of the legal tradition of their target jurisdiction as well, but this understanding can flow, albeit with research, from the work the librarian does in the target language. On the other hand, the FCIL librarian who lacks access to the target language will have a more difficult task than one who lacks an understanding of the target legal tradition. In other words, access to the legal tradition and access to the target language are both critical skills, but language access for the FCIL librarian is more critical, concerning achieving successful research outcomes.

FCIL librarians who are not comfortable with written Spanish and who are researching legal materials in Spanish-speaking jurisdictions will encounter many difficulties. Others have written, and quite persuasively, about the critical role that legal translators play in supporting a transnational network of legal practice.[3] As very few of the documents available from the databases analyzed below are in the English language, these databases perform a role that supports but does not supplant, the role of the legal translator. FCIL librarians should, therefore, not only be versed in the sources for documents but also resources that can turn the raw material of these documents into locally useful work products. While these databases are useful, then, for providing access to source documents, they are not language resources in and of themselves, and this analysis actively discourages readers from approaching the databases below as such.

Any database, however, is ultimately only as useful as the data it stores, and while, as noted above, the Internet may have facilitated access to legal materials from Spanish-language jurisdictions of late, it has not had the same impact on publication processes and schedules within certain jurisdictions. As such, the relatively wealthier jurisdictions among (and within) the Hispanophone world are publishing boletines and gacetas with more frequency than their less wealthy counterparts.

This disparity places practical limitations upon the utility of some of the databases below. It may also explain why some of the larger commercial databases have shied away from offering materials from certain jurisdictions. In the face of such limitations, however, a surprising amount of material is available online from most of the world’s Spanish-speaking jurisdictions.

While much has been written on the methodologies and techniques of the evaluation of materials in general and evaluation of databases in particular, “ultimate guidelines [for such evaluations] have yet to be formulated,” due, in no small part, to the changing nature of research interfaces, research platforms, and the substantive documents that form the core goals of a legal research task.[4]

Ultimately, database evaluation strikes at the etymological core of the word: evaluation is focused upon the nature and quality of the data, as well as the nature and quality of the base that houses (and provides access) to such data. While this is hardly a revolutionary statement, I offer it to assure readers that my analysis attempts to reinforce this fundamental approach for evaluation. The analysis below will provide various aspects, or entry points into discussion, of the nature and content of the data in question, as well as the access that each host provides.

The analysis of each database focuses on database content and meta-content, as well as database access. Roznovschi’s authoritative work in this area asks for analysis of content and meta-content through items such as the accuracy of source documents, the currency and timeliness of these documents, the overall scope and coverage of the database content, information about the author and publisher, and other descriptive or identifying elements. She focuses attention on database access along a similar rubric: addressing indexing between digital and print documents, availability of documents in more than one language, aspects and quality of search functions, stability of the servers, costs, copyright restrictions, and licensing issues. My criteria will use these elements as touchstones, but as some of these distinct aspects are more relevant for some databases and less for others, I will address what strikes me as relevant and omit, in the interests of space, those that strike me as less relevant. I hope that these aspects are clear and distinct in the analysis below.

3. Commercial Databases for Spanish-Language Jurisdictions

There are many commercial databases for Spanish-language jurisdictions, and most are specific to the jurisdiction in question. This article has selected three commercial vendors for analysis, an analysis which has been largely limited by conditions of cost and licensing access.

3.1. LexisNexis

LexisNexis’ offerings concerning Spanish-language materials may surprise newer FCIL librarians. While law librarians of all stripes have come to rely upon LexisNexis as one of the two foundational platforms for domestic CALR, it is important to remember that this service offers a limited, but useful core of materials for Argentina and Mexico, as well as a modest collection of Spanish materials. As one of the more significant vendors of legal information, librarians and researchers who use LexisNexis manage to avoid the labor costs associated with verifying or authenticating the material they find on this platform–costs that experienced FCIL librarians know are not necessarily insignificant.

Finding these materials is relatively easy: from the main Total Research System directory, select the link marked “International Law” under the “Area of Law – By Topic” set of links in the top right-hand corner of the “Look for a Source” directory. This link will take you to the “International Law” sub-directory, at which point you should select the “Global Legal” link, again located near the top-right-hand corner of the directory.

Selecting “Global Legal” reveals the global scope of LexisNexis’ collections, by nation. While Argentina, Mexico, and Spain are the only Hispanophone nations available at the time of this writing, the collection focused upon Spain is limited to Mealey’s Litigation Report as a resource for International Arbitration and Bender’s “Doing Business in Spain” as a general treatise and basic guide to issues common in legal practice. Lexis’ collection of materials from Spain, alas, does not cover the Spanish código, nor does it provide access to the boletines; their coverage does not include any regional sources for Spanish legal materials either.

However, as a database more focused on the North American market, it stands to reason that Lexis’ offerings for Spanish-language jurisdictions would be more focused upon American, rather than European jurisdictions. To that end, both collections for Argentina and Mexico are much richer than Lexis’ offerings for Spain. FCIL librarians should note that all the materials available from these specific collections are available in Spanish only (save for some text in the source description notes); as such, you will want to use the pertinent search terms in Spanish from the relevant jurisdiction when searching these databases.

The Argentine collection is relatively comprehensive, containing the Civil Code and a broad variety of subject-specific codes, including separate databases for the national mining code, commercial code, aeronautical code, and customs code, as well as criminal and criminal procedure codes (código penal y código procesal penal). This collection also includes access to the Argentine Civil Laws (leyes) and other laws covering subject matter similar to that offered in Lexis’ collection of code coverage. The distinction between the two is a matter of practice: the código is a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter in question, while the leyes deal with aspects of the subject matter in question. Librarians researching Argentine statutes will need to keep this distinction in mind, and direct patrons to one database or the other as everyone’s need dictates. Both códigos and leyes are equally binding in Argentina, so librarians may also want to make sure that patrons search both databases to ensure comprehensive research on a question of law.

Unfortunately, the currency is something of an issue concerning Lexis’ coverage of Argentine jurisprudence: as of this writing, none of their Argentine databases offer materials dated more recently than February 1997, and these databases are only updated annually. However, coverage in this collection dates to 1853, rendering this collection highly useful for historical research, especially when considering the access that Lexis’ powerful search capacities provide. However, FCIL librarians seeking more current legal material from Argentina will consult official government sources directly, as detailed and annotated in the “Research Guide to the Argentine Legal System.”

Lexis’ Mexico coverage is even more comprehensive than their offerings from Argentina. The folder marked “Legislation (Legislation)” offers individual databases that provide access to current federal laws; the Mexican Civil Code, Penal Code, and Commercial Code; and a wide variety of subject-specific legislation, including labor laws, electoral laws, Mexican International law, health laws, public notary laws, and state-specific databases covering the states of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Mexico, and Nuevo Leon, as well as the Distrito Federal de Mexico. Each of these files is current through October 2006 (in stark contrast to the Argentine files noted above).

Most importantly for the FCIL librarian (and for anyone researching the current state of Mexican jurisprudence), Lexis also offers access to Mexico’s legal boletín–the Diario Oficial de la Federación–and this file is updated within forty-eight hours of the publication of the printed source. As a civil law jurisdiction, this information is of paramount importance, and the inclusion of this file reflects Lexis’ understanding of the significance that these materials assume to practice in this jurisdiction.

LexisNexis also offers access to Mexican case law in the folder entitled “Jurisprudencia (Case Law).” The database entitled “Jurisprudencia de la Corte Suprema de Mexico” contains decisions of the Mexican Supreme Court, current through October 2006, and updated regularly, as that court hands decisions down. The other database in this folder, entitled “Jurisprudencia – Tribunal Fiscal de la Federacion” includes decisions from the Mexican Tax Courts, but unfortunately, the coverage of this database ends in October 1996. The file tagged “Archivos (Archive)” contains databases collecting circulars covering Mexican banking and securities, as well as the national retirement system. Unfortunately, these databases are also rather outdated, providing access to documents that vary in currency from 1994 to the present.

With all this content available via a very powerful and easily programmable search function, LexisNexis’ inclusion of a ready reference file, entitled Doctrina y Referencia has enhanced practical access to the information in their Spanish-language databases. This file offers material from Henry Dahl’s Spanish-English Law Dictionary (Hein, 1992), the University of New Mexico’s United States-Mexico Law Journal, and the WTO’s Trade Policy Review for Mexico. By including access to these reference tools, Lexis enhances the information they provide to lawyers, librarians, and students of Mexican law. However, librarians will also want to advise patrons that access to the Dahl’s Dictionary is unfortunately found only in the file tagged “Mexico” and not accessible from other files for Spanish-language jurisdictions as well.

Ultimately, the Lexis collection of legal materials for Spanish-language jurisdictions is relatively strong, and researchers who are looking for a comprehensive database of Mexican legal material should find much of what they need at LexisNexis. With its search capacity and the ability to search multiple databases at once, Lexis has the potential to develop into a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional collection of databases and legal information for Spanish-language nations, much as it has already subsumed this role concerning the legal landscape of the U.S.A.

3.2. vLex

vLex Global includes all jurisdictions in South America, North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, as well as some jurisdictions in Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, and Africa. It also includes International Law Treaties.

While the Spanish materials are only available, appropriately enough, in Spanish, vLex can compete with Lexis in the North American market by presenting an English-language search interface. VLex allows researchers to search their database in French, Catalan, and Spanish search interfaces as well, which positions them uniquely for access to the European markets as well as the North American.

The interface itself is a tabbed platform, like Lexis and Westlaw. vLex offers easy access to pages tabbed as “Home,” “Legislation,” “Official Gazettes,” “Regulations,” “Jurisprudence,” “Books and Serial,” “Forms,” and “News.” vLex has not only made this interface available in several languages, but they have also taken advantage of visual presentation in a way that has eluded both LexisNexis and Westlaw. This development does not provide more access, but it is a more user-friendly presentation, which is a minor, but hardly insignificant distinction. Furthermore, concerning documents of positive law, allowing online users to access the cover images also presents researchers with a useful proxy for authentication: by presenting the images of the source text, vLex shows researchers what these sources look like, which allows experienced FCIL librarians to apprehend the provenance of the text contained in the relevant vLex databases.

In terms of pure search capability, vLex’s search functions compete nicely with those available from Lexis and Westlaw, but with a slightly different mechanism. Rather than programming limiters, connectors, and proximity tools directly into the search box, researchers must select these commands from a drop-down menu just below the “Full Text” search box. As such, it is difficult to combine these individual commands into a larger, complex query; at least, it is more difficult to do this in vLex than in Lexis or Westlaw. Searching in other fields, such as title, citation number, date, location, or document type, requires that the researcher fill in separate boxes, in an interface that is reminiscent of earlier iterations of Lexis and Westlaw’s web-based search interfaces (and functionality that both these latter databases still allow).

The easy availability of news and forms, to be sure, certainly adds value to vLex as a research portal, but the access vLex provides to legislation and cases is unparalleled. By offering the text of all regional boletines, as well as a broad library of Spanish constitutional, civil, fiscal, labor, military, technology, public and administrative laws, vLex presents access to a highly comprehensive Spanish library of positive law. By presenting multiple avenues for patrons to navigate to these collections, vLex has managed to enhance access to its broad set of source materials by concentrating on the user-friendly interface design. Access to forms struck me as an instructive example: unlike both Lexis and Westlaw, which tend to embed individual forms within larger and more comprehensive databases, vLex created and tagged a stand-alone search portal for legal forms. For example, lawyers, librarians, and researchers in search of a contract governing real estate transactions in Spain need only enter the terms “vender bienes inmuebles” to yield over fifty results.[5] Furthermore, these results also offer the option to narrow one’s search to items containing only that phrase. As if this weren’t useful enough, vLex also allows users to download these forms directly into Microsoft Word, thus allowing the real estate attorney full desktop access to the critical documentation necessary for conducting property transactions in Spain.

My own experience exploring vLex left me with the impression that the entire body of Spanish law and legal practice was quite literally at my fingertips. While vLex could stand a bit of English-language editorial guidance at various places in the English-language interface, it is the most comprehensive single source for Spanish legal material. To be sure, the interface is clear and easy enough to navigate. Help includes a feedback box, an information centre for librarians, and a form for requesting help. You can also call in by phone.

3.3. Westlaw

In distinction to LexisNexis’ offerings, Westlaw offers coverage for more Spanish-language jurisdictions. The Westlaw collections for foreign jurisdictions are relatively easy to find: from the Westlaw directory, select the folder entitled “International/Worldwide Materials.” This leads you to a directory of geographically defined sub-folders, and you’ll find Spanish-language jurisdictions under the following categories: North America (for Mexico), Central America and the Caribbean (for Puerto Rico), and South America (which contains documents covering Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela). Upon selecting one of these sub-folders, choose the file marked “Individual Country Materials” to access jurisdiction-specific materials for a given nation.

Unfortunately, the scope of coverage that Westlaw offers for these jurisdictions is much narrower. In the South American jurisdictions mentioned above, for example, Westlaw only offers access to several “Business and News” databases, but no access to official boletines or gacetas, nor do they offer access to códigos, leyes, or other government documentation of positive law. (The file for Brazil does offer access to a database of ENFLEX Brazil Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulations, but since Brazil is a Portuguese-speaking jurisdiction and not a Spanish-language jurisdiction, this inclusion is not particularly useful for this article).

In contrast, Westlaw’s coverage of Puerto Rican jurisdictions is quite strong, but since Puerto Rican court decisions contribute to the United States’ jurisprudence, one would expect comprehensive coverage in this area. Westlaw’s coverage of Spanish jurisprudence, however, is rather slight, limited to providing access from Dialog’s Trademarkscan database, as well as access to the ENFLEX Spain Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulations. Again, Westlaw offers access to a variety of news databases that cover Spain (including the important newspapers El Pais and El Mundo, dating from 2002 through the current day).

Westlaw does present current coverage of the Mexican Diario Oficial de la Federación, and this file is updated each day afternoon in the Central Time Zone. Westlaw also offers a database containing the ENFLEX Mexico Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulations. Finally, Westlaw also presents the full text of articles from UNM’s United States-Mexico Law Journal. Unfortunately, this is the extent of Westlaw’s offerings concerning Mexican law. However, this reviewer remains frustrated by the fact that West does offer, through printed media, access to highly authoritative sources of information on Mexican Law: namely, Jorge Vargas’ comprehensive treatise on Mexican Law, as well as his Mexican Legal Dictionary and Desk Reference. LexisNexis has already enhanced its coverage of Spanish-language legal materials by offering access to Dahl’s dictionary through their databases, and if West were to offer online access to the Vargas materials through their databases and combine this access with source document coverage as comprehensive as Lexis’ offerings, West would provide the most authoritative, useful, and comprehensive access to Mexican legal materials online. However, as we say in Spanish, “Ojalá.”[6]

The rest of West’s coverage is rather spotty: they do offer online access to their Dictionary of NAFTA Terms, the Rules of Procedure for the Inter-American Commercial Arbitration Commission, and the full text of the NAFTA. As with the other vendors above, these materials are available only in Spanish, as each of these vendors seems to be keenly aware of the monetary and non-monetary costs associated with the translations of legal documents. However, until West simply expands the scope and breadth of legal material for Spanish-language jurisdictions, they will not be able to effectively compete with the access available from vLex or LexisNexis.

3.4. Foreign Law Guide

Playing the role of reference work for legal regulations globally, the Foreign Law Guide provides relevant context and complete bibliographic citations to both primary (legislation) and selected secondary sources for research in foreign and international law. The updating of each country is made by a local contributor which offers comprehensive and reliable information regarding the legal system and legal history; an outline of the judicial and legislative system; and links to major online sources and identification of major legal publications. In all cases, the information is organized in a way that facilitates their consultation and navigability by jurisdiction or by topic.

The Foreign Law Guide includes all Spanish-speaking Latin American countries; however, the frequency of its updates is, for the moment, irregular, forcing researchers to double-check the actuality of the information provided. For the moment, FLG focuses only on codes and statutes, leaving outside jurisprudence.

Although all the Spanish-speaking jurisdictions in Latin America follow the form of Civil Law and therefore, there is no “binding precedent” figure, in legal reality, jurisprudence is a major source of law for many jurisdictions. This requires combining the use of this database with other databases that provide case law if the investigation requires a thorough search of the available legal sources in different jurisdictions.

3.5. HeinOnline Core (Latin America)

HeinOnline’s Core for Latin America is an entire digital library containing the full text of more than 3,000 law and law-related journals, access to U.S. federal and state case law, thousands of classic legal treatises, and a wealth of government publications. All are exact replicas of the original print publications, and all are fully searchable. The databases are dedicated to treaties, constitutions, case law, world trials, classic treatises, international trade, foreign relations, and much more. All journals date back to inception, and more than 90% are available through the current issue or volume.

HeinOnline’s Core for Latin America features around twenty databases, including “Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S.,” “Slavery in America and the World,” “United Nations Law Collection,” “World Constitutions Illustrated,” and “World Trials Library” databases.

HeinOnline databases allow users to search by category or by name (of the database). It also offers an advanced search: “Search HeinOnline” allows to search of all subscribed HeinOnline databases by title, author or full text, and date. “Search the Catalog” searches across all available HeinOnline content, including MARC 21 records, by many fields such as title, author, ISBN/ISSN, etc., matching results with subscribed and non-subscribed databases. Finally, it also offers a Citation Navigator.

3.6. GlobaLex

GlobaLex is an open-access electronic legal publication dedicated to international, comparative, and foreign law research. It is committed to the publication and dissemination of high-level international, comparative, and foreign law research articles to accommodate the needs of an increasingly global educational and practicing legal world. Founded in 2005, GlobaLex is supported by the Hauser Global Law School Program and the Guarini Institute for Global Legal Studies at New York University School of Law.

In its International, Comparative, and Foreign Law sections, GlobaLex features many articles dedicated to Latin American jurisdictions as well as topics relevant to or concerning Latin American jurisdictions. Under Foreign Law, researchers can find articles dedicated to introducing the legal systems and basics of legal research (including sources of law, legal publications, as well as topical bibliographies) for all Latin American Jurisdictions. Under International and Comparative law, articles are dedicated to international law topics or comparative law approaches to research concerning Latin American jurisdictions.

4. Non-Commercial Databases and Online Information Sources for Spanish-Language Jurisdictions

Many non-commercial or open-access databases provide access to laws and legal information for Spanish-language jurisdictions around the world, and many of them are accessible from a variety of online platforms, such as Columbia University’s Guide to Finding Books and Articles on International and Foreign Law, and, of course, the International Legal Materials (ILM) links list by ASIL. GLIN 2, currently under construction, promises a new modern system aiming to provide access to authentic versions of laws.

4.1. LII’s Proyecto de Base de Datos en Español

Following the model set by the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII), the “Spanish Project” seeks to provide open access to legal materials from Spanish-language jurisdictions despite the licensing and proprietary issues. This site currently focuses on the major bodies of public international law affecting the Spanish-speaking nations of the world. Unfortunately, this is a collection of databases that feature a modest depth and breadth.

The WorldLII databases offer two search options: the standard search box, as shown above, with options for searching by title and by full text. The “advanced search” option allows the user to choose from among the multitude of WorldLII databases and run a Boolean query; a search by phrase, word, or words; or a search among document titles, case names, or names of legislation. Unfortunately, the paucity of databases pertinent to Spanish-speaking jurisdictions, as noted above, makes the “advanced search” a bit inapposite for our purposes.

This site is as transparent as possible regarding the material they house. As such, selecting the title of one of the databases available reveals the scope of the collection. The WorldLII’s Proyecto de Base de Datos en Español only provides access to texts from the following sources: the Central American Court of Justice (last update 2007), Court of Justice of the Andean Community (last update 2004), Inter-American Court of Human Rights (last update 2010), North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) Decisions (last update 2014), Venezuela Domain Name Decisions decided under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) (only 2001 documents), and Mexico Domain Name Decisions decided under ICANN’s UDRP (only 2001 and 2003 documents). As a source that is limited in scope, it is a useful stop for the researcher who knows that what she is looking for is contained within one of these databases. As most FCIL librarians know, however, it is rare for a research problem to present with such tightly drawn limitations around it.

More to the point, this database is not only limited in scope, but in depth as well. WorldLII does not offer access to Argentine Domain Name Decisions, Chilean Domain Name Decisions, or Spanish Domain Name Decisions.

In short, this source is promising, but not quite yet useful for newer FCIL librarians. As WorldLII adds more databases to the Proyecto and adds more materials to each database, this source should also become more useful.

4.2. Repositorio ALAS (Latin American Academic Repository on Gender, Law and Sexuality)

 

This living archive shares the academic production of the members of the network who, from different parts of Latin America, contribute to the knowledge of gender, sexuality, and law. The repository was built with the contributions of the Red ALAS members.

Red ALAS promotes the reform of law teaching by strengthening legal research and the inclusion of gender and sexual diversity perspectives in the contents and methodologies of all areas of law. The members of the Network are part of the most important law schools in the Latin American region.

The collection includes 2806 titles, containing 169 books, 169 book chapters, and 923 articles, and it is regularly updated. All the documents are in Spanish. The search allows you to choose from twelve types of documents–such as “Research Article,” “Book Chapter,” “Thesis,” “Webinar,” among others–from six areas of law and by year (from 1995 to 2020).

There is also a search button that lists the authors alphabetically and another button that allows you to see the nine areas of law in which the documents can be categorized. Text documents are in full-text PDF format for online reading or downloading; audiovisual documents have external links.

The ALAS repository offers important and unique documentation among Latin American law collections. Its search engine is simple, clear, and intuitive. The one drawback is that it is not continuously updated, therefore, for updated information, it must be searched in other databases.

4.3. RDI Facultad de Derecho (Repositorio Digital Institucional – Facultad de Derecho – Universidad de Buenos Aires)

RDI Faculty of Law (Institutional Digital Repository – Faculty of Law) (RDI Facultad de Derecho) is a search engine that offers the academic production of the Faculty of Law included in the Institutional Digital Repository of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

Although most of the intellectual output is from Argentina, it contains two international law journals that include material from Latin America: Journal of the Institute of International Law (Revista del Instituto de Derecho Internacional) and Bulletin of the Observatory of International Humanitarian Law of the University of Buenos Aires (Boletín del Observatorio de Derecho Internacional Humanitario de la Universidad de Buenos Aires).

You can search in full text and by title, author, subject, date, type of document, and abstract. You can also enter the corresponding collection and perform a search within that collection.

From the search result, you will obtain a list of records with summary information for each document, from which you can access the complete bibliographic record, the bibliographic citation, and the full text.

All the documents are in Spanish.

4.4 Repositorio Institucional de CLACSO

CLACSO’s Institutional Repository (Repositorio institucional de CLACSO – Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales) is a Network of Virtual Libraries of Social Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean. The CLACSO Digital Repository is a collaborative initiative that has been disseminating the output of CLACSO’s network of associated centres and programmes since 1998.

To date, the repository contains some 48930 documents. Offers about 1335 titles on Law, 582 on Legislation, 545 on Legal and Political Sciences, and 545 on Legal and Political Sciences.

The search is simple and can be filtered by title, author, and date. The update is up to date, considering that there are titles from 2024.

4.5 Red de Respositorios Latinoamericanos

The Latin American Repositories Network (Red de Respositorios Latinoamericanos) was created in 2006 by the University of Chile through its Directorate of Information Services and Libraries (SISIB), to provide a tool for easy access to electronic publications in full text located in different repositories in Latin American countries.

It currently has more than 8,000,000 publications from more than 500 institutions in twenty-one countries. It allows you to browse by institutions and countries and discover new publications available: books, theses, and articles, among others.

Simultaneous searches can be performed through a single web interface and retrieve electronic publications stored in the different servers and repositories of the network.[7]

The advanced search allows you to filter by title, author, subject, document type, and date of publication. In the field of law, it returns more than 120,000 results. The documents are in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. It should be noted that the site can be viewed in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French.

5. Official Access for Spanish-Latin American Law and Jurisprudence

5.1. Argentina

To access Argentinean law, the Official Gazette (Boletín Oficial) provides free access to all laws, decrees, and regulations from both the legislative and the executive powers.

The jurisprudence can be accessed from different official sources.

It can also be accessed from SAJI, a database from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

5.2. Bolivia

To access Bolivian Law, the Gaceta Oficial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (its Official Gazette) provides free access to the norm and also offers a search by number of the law but also for date and keyword.

The jurisprudence from the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and the Constitutional Tribunal can be freely accessed through its Webpage which provides good search engines.

Lower courts’ case law is difficult to access through the Internet; although, in some cases, particular jurisdictions offer some leading cases related to specific topics.

5.3. Chile

The Official Gazette from Chile (Boletín Oficial) offers full access to the official updated legislation. The Printed Editions tab offers official journal legislation from March 1st, 1877, to August 16th, 2016, including General and Particular Rules, Judicial Publications, and Notices. After that date, the editions are electronic and should be consulted in the “Electronic Edition” tab. In both cases, the search is by date.

The Library of Congress (Biblioteca del Congreso) offers free access to the legislation and codices with a search engine by keyword.

In the matter of jurisprudence, Chile, unlike other countries in the region, offers access to its full jurisprudence, not only to the Supreme Court but also to lower courts through the website of the judicial power (Poder Judicial De Chile). Its search engine allows searching by keyword and other relevant information like date, jurisdiction, judges, etc.

5.4. Colombia

The Official Gazette from Colombia (Diario Oficial) offers free access to both updated and historical legislation of the Republic. Its website offers an English version of some of its information; however, no official translation of the law is available. It also has a comprehensive search engine to access the law and legislation. In this case, the information is only available in Spanish.

In the matter of jurisprudence, Colombia doesn’t have a cohesive and free website with all the case law available. However, recently, they developed a website offering simultaneous thematic consultation to the four higher courts: Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of the Nation, Superior Council of the Judiciary, and State Council. The search engine only provides search by subject, and it doesn’t offer any type of filter, which searches, depending on the subject, difficult and inefficient.

It would be better if it needed a particular jurisprudence, court, or date to access the different case law when visiting each court’s website. The Supreme Court of the Nation’s Website offers a search engine for its jurisprudence, and the webpage offers documents on subjects considered of interest by the Supreme Court (these documents and compendia have been available since the year 2006).

The Constitutional Court’s Website offers great tools for research in the matter of Colombian constitutional discussions. Since 2011, the Constitutional Court has offered access in English to abstracts of its most important decisions as a response to requests by readers from all around the world. The Constitutional Court search engine is easy to access, and it offers both simple and advanced searches.

The jurisprudence of lower courts is not found easily in one place, but depending on the subject, you can find webpages compiling both high courts and lower courts’ case law on the issues of copyright, right to education, and corporate law, among others.

5.5. Costa Rica

In the matter of legislation, Costa Rica has La Gaceta (The Gazette) and the Boletín Judicial (Judicial Bulletin). The Boletín Judicial is the official media of the Costa Rican state, which provides legal security to the inhabitants of the Republic through the publication of all the documents required to be understood as official (publish laws, decrees, regulations, biddings, resolutions, auctions, and notices, among other documents). The documents available through the website are both legislation and executive orders, and they can be accessed through a cohesive search engine. All the information is available only in Spanish.

Costa Rica has very good search engines to access its high courts’ jurisprudence. The Costa Rican Legal Information System offers documents that can be found both through simple and advanced searches, and its results show records as the rules and jurisprudence information on an integrated basis. It contains legislation enacted since 1821 (laws, executive orders, international conventions, regulations, and other rules of general application), as well as the jurisprudence of the Chambers of Cassation, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, administrative jurisprudence of the Attorney General’s Office, and the Ministry of Finance.

Like in other countries, specific subjects can be accessed through different websites. The jurisprudence and rules of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal are fully available; although, its search engine isn’t very friendly. The General Accounting of the Republic also offers access to its main documents and the case law related to its affairs. Finally, the Ibero-American Observatory of Data Protection also offers information on this regard in the Costa Rican jurisdiction.

5.6. Cuba

Accessing legal information from Cuba is not a difficult task. The Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba) is the official organ constitutionally recognized for legislation publicity. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for its publication and is the custodian of this archive. It offers a comprehensive database divided by subject with an acceptable search engine, only available in Spanish.

To access Cuban jurisprudence, the website of the Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo Popular) offers a selection of its jurisprudence organized by date and subject. Also, the same website divides its information between the different chambers and offers a selection of case law from the provincial courts. The information is in Spanish and English, and the site does not offer a search engine, but instead a list of leading cases divided by subject and date.

5.7. Dominican Republic

The updated and official legislation from the Dominican Republic is published in its Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial). Its search engine is comprehensive and offers multiple search fields, including the traditional searches by subject and date, but also by the Minister or President currently in charge of the enacted law, decree, or any other document from both the legislative and executive powers.

The Dominican jurisprudence can be freely accessed (only in Spanish) through the website of the judicial power, which provides a database of unpublished rulings, the Judicial Bulletin (1994-2014), historical rulings, orders of the president, disciplinary decisions, decisions on extradition, administrative decisions on individual cases, and general jurisprudence.

5.8. Ecuador

The updated and official legislation from Ecuador is available by date through the website of the Registro Official, the official body of the legislative and executive powers. It is not possible to search laws, decrees, or other executive resolutions by subject or by other information field. It can only be browsed by the date of enactment. However, the jurisprudence can be accessed and searched through the website of the National Court of Justice (Corte Nacional de Justicia). It offers multiple search fields by thesaurus or keyword, date of the resolution, both plaintiff and defendant, number of resolutions, and other information about the trial. Additionally, it offers a search engine for each court chamber and presidential resolution.

5.9. El Salvador

The historical and updated accesses to legislation and executive resolutions from El Salvador are available through the Imprenta Nacional’s website. The access is not very friendly, even for Spanish speakers. However, it is possible to access legislation by date or subject.

Jurisprudence can be accessed through the Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa), which also offers selected legislation, international documents, and academic papers. The website provides both simple and advanced search and filters by date and jurisdiction.

5.10. Guatemala

Unlike most countries in the region, to access Guatemalan legislation isn’t free, at least in an official and comprehensive way. Access the full text of legislation through the Official Gazette requires a username and password, but other websites offer full access to legislation by subject. Such is the case of the Information System on Foreign Trade (Sistema de Información sobre Comercio Exterior), through which the laws related to intellectual property, e-commerce, and international investment, among other related subjects, can be accessed.

Finally, the National Congress Website provides access to the newest enacted laws and the drafts of national legislation.

In the matter of jurisprudence, Guatemala exhibits the same limitations for access to its law. The Supreme Court of Justice doesn’t have a cohesive search engine and only can access the sentences related to constitutional rights (amparo actions). However, its Crime Chamber offers better access to its jurisprudence through a different website, including what would be a novelty for the region: access to the ruling regarding the execution of the judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

5.11. Honduras

As in Guatemala, access to official and updated legislation in Honduras through its Official Gazette requires a subscription. However, the judicial power offers a list of important laws and all the Codices of the Republic. Also, the Lexadin website offers a list organized by subject of several laws from Honduras. This list isn’t updated, and it should be consulted carefully for that reason.

The jurisprudence in Honduras can be freely accessed through the judicial power’s website. The search engine is available for both simple and advanced searches. It also offers a list of subjects to browse the case law; although, it is not very friendly and sometimes isn’t available and looks outdated.

5.12. Mexico

The Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación) offers a great search engine to access all federal legislation from Mexico. The documents can be searched by date, subject, or legislative period. It also offers advanced filters to navigate within the results.

The full text of the jurisprudence in México was made available only recently. The Supreme Court’s ruling can be accessed through its website. The search is an advanced search by topic or date, but it isn’t very comprehensive because the full text is only available for the last five years. Previous decisions are not available and can only be accessed its standards through the judicial weekly newspaper of the Federation (Boletín Electrónico de la Suprema Corte de la Nación).

5.13. Nicaragua

The official legislation from Nicaragua has been freely available since 2007 through its Official Gazette (La Gaceta: Diario Oficial). It offers a search box which is not very good, and it will be better to browse the legislation by subject or date.

To access jurisprudence, the website for the judicial power does not provide a unique search engine; therefore, the search should be made through the different chambers of the Court. It is available through the Constitutional Chamber, the Criminal Chamber, the Civil Chamber, and finally the Contentious Administrative Chamber.

5.14. Panama

The official and updated legislation from Panama is available through the Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial de la República de Panamá), which offers a comprehensive and friendly search engine, as well as an advanced search. All gazettes from 3 July 2006 can be found here. It can be accessed in both legislative and executive documents in the official version PDF format.

In the matter of jurisprudence, the Judicial Documentation Center offers jurisprudence for all the high courts (it isn’t possible to access the lower courts’ judgments) with both simple and advanced searches and good filters to navigate within the results.

5.15. Paraguay

The Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial) provides free access to all legislation and executive orders. The documents only can be found through a simple search and by topic or number of laws or decrees. Also, the website offers the possibility to browse both laws and decrees from the last twenty-five years.

The jurisprudence from the Supreme Court is easy to access and search. However, no other high courts or lower courts offer their documents through the Internet, but it is also possible to subscribe for free to the Judicial Bulletin to have the latest judgments not only from the Supreme Court but also from other courts organized by subject. Information is also available online, as of 1 August 2006.

5.16. Peru

El Peruano (like “The Peruvian”) is the name of the Official Gazette. It offers free access to the legislation from 1995 to date. It is searchable by date, jurisdiction, and executive body. It also can be downloaded in PDF format, and filters by date are available.

The jurisprudence is easy to access. The website from the judicial power offers both a search into the high courts’ jurisprudence and also a systematized case law from the different courts. It is arranged by subject and jurisdiction.

5.17. Uruguay

The Official Gazette (IMO Diario Oficial) is fully accessible and searchable from 1905 to date. However, the documents can only be searched by date.

Jurisprudence is also available through the Internet, and it offers a comprehensive and friendly search engine with simple and advanced fields through the Database of Public National Jurisprudence.

5.18. Venezuela

Legislation in Venezuela is easy to access through the Official Gazette (Gaceta official de la República de Venezuela) and through the website of the Superior Tribunal of Justice. In both cases, the search must be done by date and is only available from the year 2000.

The jurisprudence in Venezuela is only freely accessible through the website of the Superior Tribunal of Justice (Tribunal Supremo de Justicia–TSJ). However, it offers also judgments from the different high courts of all the jurisdictions in the country. The search engine allows for performing simple and advanced searches. It also provides a list of topics with systematized jurisprudence.

6. Conclusion

Judging from this small sample, the quality of online information sources for laws from Spanish-speaking jurisdictions can be seen as chaotic and uneven. Some sources offer high-quality material of trustworthy provenance, and others do not. As with so many other services, the discerning user will usually get what she pays for, but some free sources offer materials of the highest quality and most impeccable provenance.

The commercial databases have neatly divided their spheres of authority: LexisNexis’ offerings seem strongest in Argentina and Mexico, and vLex offers more access to legal materials globally. Westlaw, however, owns enough content to present a library of Mexican materials that could easily compete with Lexis’ offerings. Whether or not Thomson will allow West to achieve this potential is a wholly different question and one that is beyond the scope of this note.

Future developments in legal databases providing access to materials from Spanish-speaking jurisdictions promise to be defined by more intense competition, manifest in access to more materials, and access that is increasingly user-friendly. It’s too early to tell which platform will prove to be the dominant provider, but FCIL librarians who work with Spanish-language materials will be the immediate beneficiaries of these trends.

Access to public information in Latin America has taken great strength in recent years. There is a notable growth of institutional repositories of universities and educational institutions, which seek to create a collaborative space and free access to the documentation that these same institutions produce. Therefore, the three branches–legislative, executive, and judicial–invest money and efforts to improve access to its resolutions and other binding documents. While commercial databases often provide information more organized and in a friendly way, information emanating from public bodies is easily accessible on the Internet and while it has limitations, eventually will be increasingly and easily its access to it.

[1] Fernando J. Figueredo, Acquisition of Latin American Legal Materials: A Burdensome Task [1] (1970).

[2] Id. at [4].

[3] See, e.g. Francisco Avalos, Legal Translation: Some Tips, Lecture delivered at National Language Resource Center, San Diego State University (24 July 1998).

[4] See Mirela Roznovschi, Toward a Cyberlegal Culture, 90 (2001). This current guide owes much to this work and to the exhaustive “Guiding Principles on the Evaluation of Legal Databases” that form Chapter 3 of this book. The evaluation rubric, in particular, that I offer is explicitly derived and synthesized from Mirela Roznovschi’s more authoritative statement of principles enumerated therein.

[5] This is the Spanish-language civil law term for the sale of real estate.

[6] This common Spanish interjection traces its etymological roots back to the Muslim occupation of Spain and generally means “if only,” translating literally as an invocation of Allah.

[7] Red de Repositorios Latinoamericanos, Antecedentes https://repositorioslatinoamericanos.uchile.cl/