Guide last updated by Hester Swift, October 2025
This guide was created by Hester Swift, Foreign & International Law Librarian at the IALS Library.
Email hester.swift@sas.ac.uk
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We'd love to hear your comments about this Research Guide.
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We also recommend the following online research guides for foreign jurisdictions:
The Republic of Colombia is a constitutional democracy in South America. It has a civil law legal system.
IALS Library's Colombian law collection consists of codes, books, journals, historical law reports and other material. The classmark for Colombia is GS6, while publications covering Latin America generally are at GQ1 and comparative law is at SB. Online resources do not have classmarks, but you can find them by key word or subject on Library Search, the online catalogue.
Colombian legislation and cases are freely available online - see below.
The current constitution is the Constitución Política de Colombia 1991. IALS Library holds a recent commentary on it, Sierra's Constitución Política de Colombia: comentada (2nd edn, Leyer 2025).
The constitution is widely available online:-
Documentation relating to the drafting of the 1991 Constitution, as published in the Gazettes of the Constituent Assembly, is available on a Constitutional Court microsite.
HeinOnline's World Constitutions Illustrated (a subscription-based resource) has the current constitution in English and Spanish (original version and several consolidated versions); all the previous constitutions, back to 1811; and commentary on Colombian constitutional law.
The Constitución Política de 1886 is on the website of the House of Representatives. All the old Colombian constitutions, back to 1821, are on the Constitutional Court microsite.
The library has 2025 editions of the Colombian civil code and general procedural code, with commentary: -
Other codes are also held: see Library Search.
Colombian legislation is found on several official websites:
Historical material
IALS Library has old Colombian codes back to 1859.
Several historical series / compilations of Colombian legislation are held in the basement Reserve (classmark RES GS6.E).
Digitised session laws from 1857 to 1941 are on the LLMC database, under the main title Leyes colombianas.
The Judicial Branch website has a diagram of the Colombian court system and there is an overview of the superior courts in Hernando Otero's Globalex article, 'An Introduction to Colombian Governmental Institutions and Primary Legal Sources'.
Decisions of the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Council of State and a few other higher courts are available from the Sistema de Consulta de Juriprudencia, from around the early 1900s to the present. Search all courts, or scroll down and select a specific court (‘Consulta de jurisprudencia por corporación’).
These individual courts provide cases, court rules, bulletins and related information online:-
Historical material
IALS Library holds two Colombian law reports up to the early 1970s (classmark RES GS6.G):-
IALS Library holds about three hundred books on the law of Colombia, as well as comparative and Latin American law titles that cover Colombia. Everything is listed on Library Search, the online catalogue.
Our recent titles include the following:
Sierra, Francisco Gómez, Constitución Política de Colombia: comentada (2nd edn, Leyer 2025)
Contreras Restrepo, Gustavo, Código Civil comentado (35th edn, Leyer 2025)
Henao Carrasquilla, Oscar Eduardo, Código General del Proceso comentado (12th edn, Leyer 2025)
Ferré Olivé, Juan Carlos, El Derecho penal colombiano: parte general: principios fundamentales y Sistema (2nd edn, Tirant lo Blanch 2024)
Rincón Rubiano, Daniel, Energy law in Colombia (3rd edn, Kluwer Law International 2024)
Rincón Rubiano, Daniel, Environmental law in Colombia (4th edn, Kluwer Law International 2024)
Fröhlich, Johanna, Constitutional Reasoning in Latin America and the Caribbean (Hart Publishing 2024)
Ochoa Carvajal, Raúl Humberto, Bienes (10th edn, Temis 2023)
Brender Ackerman, Carlos, Análisis crítico de la jurisprudencia colombiana (Grupo Editorial Ibáñez 2023)
González Pérez, Miguel, Indigenous territorial autonomy and self-government in the diverse Americas (University of Calgary Press 2023)
IALS Library has three Colombian law journals:-
HeinOnline's Law Journal Library includes about ten journals published in Colombia.
The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) covers about 40 Colombian open access law journals and gives links to the full text.
BibLat, a Latin American and Caribbean law portal, covers about 30 Colombian law journals: users can search the journals and BibLat gives links to the full text, if available on open access.
Constitutional Court: cases and other information, including a Constitution microsite.
Council of State: cases, bulletins and other information.
Diario Oficial: the Colombian official gazette, 2015 onwards.
An Introduction to Colombian Governmental Institutions and Primary Legal Sources': research guide by Hernando Otero (Globalex, NYU)
Laws in force (Senate): current constitution, codes and laws.
Laws up to 1991 (House of Representatives).
Legislation and draft legislation (Presidency).
Sistema de Consulta de Jurisprudencia: the Judicial Branch's case law portal, covering the highest courts.
SUIN-Juriscol MinJusticia: database of laws, codes, constitutions (current and previous) and cases on the constitutionality / validity of legislation.
Supreme Court: cases and related information.