The European Convention on Information on Foreign Law came into being as a result of formal recognition by the Council of Europe that increasing movement of persons and goods across European frontiers has resulted in an interpenetration of laws and the attendant need to take foreign law into consideration. Thus, in its explanatory report on the Convention, the Council of Europe noted that it “often happens that, under a rule of conduct or laws, a court is called upon to apply a principle of foreign law, particularly in questions of contract and of family law or of the status and capacity of persons.”

The Library Léon Graulich of the University of Liège Law School was founded in 1929 and has approximately 250,000 volumes in its collections.

Its acquisitions policy emphasizes books on legal subjects with main attention devoted to the law of Belgium. Foreign law materials, especially French law and the law of the European Communities are also being collected on a current basis, as well as the law of the United States and a few other countries on a small scale.

Since 1971 the Library has been using modern computer techniques for the production of a bibliographic record of books and articles on legal subjects published in Belgium.

In addition, the documents of the Belgium Parliament are also accessible through computer terminals which have been installed in the Library. Since 1977 the collective labor agreements are also part of this automated indexing system.

On July 1, 1979, during the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC), seven important laws were passed. Among these new laws were complete codes of criminal law and criminal procedure.

The approval of these laws—particularly the codes of criminal law and procedure—is, to anyone with more than a casual interest in the PRC's legal system, an act of great significance. The Chinese themselves certainly view this event as being quite important and have devoted considerable time and effort to propagandizing its meaning for their society.

The law regulating labor relations in the United States has grown in complexity as numerous statutes, both federal and state, have been enacted to regulate many matters growing out of the employer-employee relationship. Since these statutes have a wide application, the lawyer, regardless of his geographical location or type of practice must have some knowledge of the literature which has been spawned by this ever-expanding subject. The list of research tools in labor law includes not only legal publications in the narrow sense, but also materials on subjects such as employment statistics and the cost of living. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the labor law literature and to the agencies responsible for its administration. Obviously, a detailed analysis of each source is impossible here and would be tedious at any rate. Sources are suggested and their contents indicated but only a perusal of the publication itself will clearly demonstrate its usefulness.

Since more than a decade, several Eastern European countries, ruled by a Communist party, began introducing legislation permitting joint ventures in the fields of production, science-technology, and trade with foreign physical and juridical persons as partners. Foreign investors and enterprises were thus given the opportunity to enter into various mutually beneficial activities with socialist states in the form of capital, labor, equipment and technology.

In France the public financing of national election campaigns as practiced throughout its history has not yet resolved several problems which are related to the legal and political development of French institutions and society. This current legal situation, which is still in a state of transition, has been based on a series of conceptions which do not reflect the reality of modern political campaigns. So far, the French legislation seems to ignore the tremendous importance of contemporary advertising as a means of favoring candidates who can afford it and provides that only a limited number of activities, printed materials, and a limited amount of media time be given for free by the government in order to make a person's abilities and platform known. The Government of the Fifth Republic, instead of increasing its support to financial campaigns, has generally acted in such a way as if some limitations on necessary expenses would put all the candidates on the same level. Another problem consists of the deliberate ignoring of the existence of the parties in the legal sense, with the exception of broadcast regulations which do mention the parties and political groups by name. The dichotomy between the legislation and reality is so great that very often when the rules are violated, no judicial sanctions are imposed.