If you can read the title of this blog post, you can research on LAWnB Legal Information Service, a Korean-language portal to legal information which is now available to the Duke University community. LAWnB indexes more than 50 law-related topics, including statutes, precedents, administrative documents, and legal articles. For assistance using LAWnB, contact Miree Ku, Korean Studies Librarian at Perkins/Bostock Library (miree.ku@duke.edu).
If you require your Korean law in translation, though, you’re still in luck. Translated, historical versions of the constitutions for both the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) can be found in Constitutions of the Countries and Territories of the World, while other sources can be found in print in the Goodson Law Library.
Statutes of the Republic of Korea, a 20-volume set kept up to date by looseleaf pages, is available on Level 1 at the call number KPA13 1997. Historical statutes as well as treatises about South Korean law can be found nearby, in the call number range KPA1-KPA4990. (North Korean law books are classified under KPC1-KPC4990, although the Goodson Law Library’s collection will be much smaller.)
Keep in mind that there may be additional books about Korea located at other call numbers, particularly in interdisciplinary subjects (e.g., An Economic Approach to Korean Corporate Structure and Corporate Law, at HG4247 .K6 2007). To retrieve a complete listing of the available books on a particular topic, search the Duke University Libraries catalog. The catalog search will retrieve materials available in the Law Library as well as the other campus libraries, including the East Asian collection at Perkins/Bostock library.
The catalog will also display several Korean law journals, including Journal of Korean Judicature and Korea University Law Review. These journals can be found in the Law Library’s Periodicals collection on Level 4, organized alphabetically by title. Many provide English tables of contents, and some provide articles in English as well as Korean. vLex Global also contains a set of “Korea (South) Law Articles in English”, mostly on business and securities law topics. To access these, choose “See More” under “Contents by Country” and scroll down to Korea.
For assistance with researching legal materials from Korea (or any other country), just Ask a Librarian.
If you require your Korean law in translation, though, you’re still in luck. Translated, historical versions of the constitutions for both the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) can be found in Constitutions of the Countries and Territories of the World, while other sources can be found in print in the Goodson Law Library.
Statutes of the Republic of Korea, a 20-volume set kept up to date by looseleaf pages, is available on Level 1 at the call number KPA13 1997. Historical statutes as well as treatises about South Korean law can be found nearby, in the call number range KPA1-KPA4990. (North Korean law books are classified under KPC1-KPC4990, although the Goodson Law Library’s collection will be much smaller.)
Keep in mind that there may be additional books about Korea located at other call numbers, particularly in interdisciplinary subjects (e.g., An Economic Approach to Korean Corporate Structure and Corporate Law, at HG4247 .K6 2007). To retrieve a complete listing of the available books on a particular topic, search the Duke University Libraries catalog. The catalog search will retrieve materials available in the Law Library as well as the other campus libraries, including the East Asian collection at Perkins/Bostock library.
The catalog will also display several Korean law journals, including Journal of Korean Judicature and Korea University Law Review. These journals can be found in the Law Library’s Periodicals collection on Level 4, organized alphabetically by title. Many provide English tables of contents, and some provide articles in English as well as Korean. vLex Global also contains a set of “Korea (South) Law Articles in English”, mostly on business and securities law topics. To access these, choose “See More” under “Contents by Country” and scroll down to Korea.
For assistance with researching legal materials from Korea (or any other country), just Ask a Librarian.