Online Library Puts Legal Research at Your Fingertips

In an effort to assist lawyers, judges, civil society activists, and others doing research, the MEPI-funded International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) recently updated its popular online library.

Located at http://www.icnl.org/knowledge/library/index.php, this user-friendly database includes a searchable directory of legal documents, court cases, reports, and other civil society resources from 144 countries and in multiple languages. 

Regularly maintained and updated, the site features dropdown menus that allow users to browse by country or language, as well as a text box allowing simple keyword searches.

Recent additions to the site include a report from Morocco titled “Law Regarding the Establishment of Associations,” in both Arabic and English, as well as papers on a legal framework for non-profit corporations and laws for charitable organizations, among other entries. 

ICNL received a MEPI grant to support its Middle East Associative Rights Initiative, which is developing a corps of local experts in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia, among other countries, on reforming laws governing associative rights and the legal establishment of civil society organizations.