Costa Rican Law – Global Legal Collection Highlights

The following is a guest post by Norma C. Gutiérrez, senior foreign law specialist for Mexico and Central American countries in the Law Library’s Global Legal Research Directorate. It is part of our Global Legal Collection Highlights series that aims to inform readers about English-language materials in the Law Library’s collection. To date, the series has included posts on the following countries: China,  France, Indonesia, Israel, Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Malawi, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Thailand, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, as well as posts on refugee law and canon law.

Costa Rica is one of the five sister republics located in the isthmus of Central America. It is bordered to the north by Nicaragua and to the south by Panama, with coastlines along the Pacific Ocean at the west, and the Caribbean Sea on the east. It is only 1,126.7 miles away from the US coastal city of Miami and can be reached via a 2 hour 31 minute flight. The country is not only geographically close to the United States, but also a close ally, with diplomatic relations dating back to 1851.

Costa Rica is a peaceful democratic country with an orderly, constitutional scheme of governmental succession. It is a Spanish speaking country, with a legal system belonging to the civil law tradition. Legal researchers can find sources of information and reliable websites on Costa Rican law through the Law Library’s Guide to Law Online.

The majority of the Law Library’s holdings in print on Costa Rican law are in Spanish. The English-language materials published in the last three years, either solely on Costa Rican law or with a chapter on Costa Rican law, include the following:

• Obando Peeralta, Juán José, Private International Law in Costa Rica (2013).
• Gretta Fenner Zinkernagel, Charles Monteith, & Pedro Gómez Pereira, Emerging Trends in Asset Recovery (2013).
• Rubén Hernández Valle, Constitutional Law in Costa Rica (2012).
• The Littler Mendelson Guide to International Employment and Labor Law (2012).
• Anti-bribery Risk Assessment: A Systematic Overview of 151 Countries (Thomas Gruetzner, Ulf Hommel, & Klaus Moosmayer eds., 2011).
• Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health (Ely Yamin & Siri Gloppen eds., 2011).

If you have questions about researching Costa Rican law you can visit us at the Law Library or submit a request for assistance via our Ask a Librarian service.