Collaborative Research: Courts and the Globalization of Law

近几十年来，法律思想在各大洲和国家之间的流动已经加剧，以至于一些法律学者将其称为“法律全球化”。数字形式的信息存储和通信使得律师和法官从世界上几乎任何地方获取和使用法律材料比以往任何时候都更便宜、更容易。许多国家的法官越来越多地利用外国和国际法律材料来帮助他们解决本国法院出现的问题。该项目将通过国家高等法院收集、准备、分析和传播有关法律全球化的信息。目前的研究将记录大约40个宪法法院或最高法院的判决中对外国和国际法律材料的引用，涵盖20年的时间跨度。这些国家代表了世界上所有的地区和主要的法律传统。研究人员将使用统计技术来分析司法全球化的模式。这项研究的结果将是第一个系统的、国际的、多年的数据库，收录各种外国和国际法律资料。这些数据和分析将通过一个互动网站免费提供给法律研究人员、法律从业人员和政策制定者。

In recent decades, the flow of legal ideas across continents and countries has intensified to such an extent that some legal scholars write of the "globalization of law." Digital forms of information storage and communication have made it cheaper and easier than ever for attorneys and judges to acquire and use legal materials from virtually anywhere in the world. Judges in numerous countries increasingly draw upon foreign and international legal materials to help them resolve questions that arise in their own national courts. This project will collect, prepare, analyze, and disseminate information on the globalization of law through national high courts. The current study will record citations to foreign and international legal materials in the decisions of about 40 constitutional or supreme courts, covering a 20-year span of time. The countries to be included represent all of the world's regions and major legal traditions. The researchers will use statistical techniques to analyze the patterns of judicial globalization.The results of this research will be the first systematic, international, multi-year database of citations to the full range of foreign and international legal materials. Both the data and the analyses will be freely available to legal researchers, law practitioners, and policy makers through an interactive web site.