Subject Guides: Law: Law and History

Journals

Journal articles often provide useful commentary, comments and interpretations of primary source material. Some key journals are:

Journal of Legal History
British journal concerned with legal history, founded in 1980. Publishes articles on the sources and development of the common law, both in the British Isles and overseas, on the history of the laws of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and on Roman Law and the European legal tradition. There is a section for shorter research notes, review-articles, and a wide-ranging section of reviews of recent literature.
Law and History Review
Examines the history of law from ancient to modern times. The journal's purpose is to further research in the fields of the social history of law and the history of legal ideas and institutions. Features articles, essays, commentaries by international authorities, and reviews of important books on legal history.
Legal History
Formerly the Australian Journal of Legal History, is dedicated to publishing research by scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds who are interested in the dynamic relationship between law and history.

Electronic journal collections

19th Century UK Periodicals, Part 1: Women's, Children's, Humour, and Leisure This link opens in a new window
Formerly 19th Century UK Periodicals Series 1: New Readerships
Provides access to facsimile editions of almost 100 periodicals from the 19th century focusing on women, sports and leisure, children, and humour and satire. The collection is mainly based on the repositories of the British Library and the National Library of Scotland.

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American Periodicals Series Online (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
American Periodicals Series Online is a major database containing digitized images of the pages of American magazines, journals and newspapers originating between 1741 and 1900. APS Online has over 7 million pages of content spanning nearly 200 years of American history up to Americas entry into World War II, and includes over 1,500 titles ranging from America 's first scientific journal, Medical Repository, to popular magazines like Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home Journal.

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British Periodicals Collection (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The University has access to Collections I, II and IV.
British Periodicals provides access to the searchable full text of almost 500 periodicals published between the 1680s and the 2000s and covers a wide range of subjects from across the arts, sciences and social sciences.

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HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new window
Gives access to the full text of over 1,200 law and law-related periodicals. See the HeinOnline entry for details of the other HeinOnline collections available.

For help with this resource, take a look at the Hein User Guide.

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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
For alumni access please see the Virtual Library JSTOR section on Alumni Learning.
A digital archive collection of core scholarly journals starting with the first issues (many of which date from the 1800s). See JSTOR's online help guide for further information.

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Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new window
A major online archive that makes the backfiles of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences available electronically, providing access to the page image of a growing number of digitized periodicals that are already indexed in the Periodicals Contents Index (PCI).

The University has access to Collections 1, 2 and 8 plus a selection of 130 titles purchased by JISC drawn from other collections.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Project MUSE, founded by Johns Hopkins University Press, is a database of over 380 full text scholarly journals in the arts, humanities and social sciences from over 70 (mainly university press) publishers.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Law Cases and Legislation

Cases

Cause Papers
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Searchable catalogue of more than 14,000 cause papers relating to cases heard between 1300 and 1858 in the Church Courts of the diocese of York. The original records are held in the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York, and are the most extensive records of their type in the United Kingdom. They offer an extremely valuable resource for family and local historians and scholars interested in social, ecclesiastical, economic and legal history.
English Reports
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English Reports (from 1220-1873) accessible via vLex Justis. Oldest collection of the most authoritative and comprehensive law reports. Over 100,000 of the most important cases reported between 1220 and 1873.
International Law Reports
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International Law Reports accessible via vLex Justis. Provide regular and systematic reports in English of decisions of international courts and arbitrators as well as judgments of national courts. Covering all significant cases of public international law from 1919 to the present day. Featuring an enormously diverse range of topics along the way, including: international boundaries; state and diplomatic immunity; treaties between states; war and terrorism; and refugee law.
Proceedings of the Old Bailey
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A fully searchable database containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court from 1674 to 1913. If you have problems using the database take a look at the Getting Started and the Guide to Searching videos.
State Trials
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State Trials (from 1163-1856) accessible via vLex Justis. Over seven centuries of higher criminal jurisprudence covering English trials relating to offences against the State or trials illustrative of the law relating to State Officers. A wide variety of cases is covered, predominantly high treason but also bigamy, sedition, seditious libel, murder involving high-ranking officials or peers, riot, piracy, witchcraft, bribery and corruption. Comprises two series of State Trials, Howell’s/Cobbett’s State Trials (1163–1822) and the New Series (Macdonell’s) (1822–1858), as well as additional material from National Collections and the English (Nominate) Reports.

Legislation

Early English Laws
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Early English Laws is a project to publish online and in print new editions and translations of all English legal codes, edicts, and treatises produced up to the time of Magna Carta 1215.
Statutes of the Realm (on HeinOnline)
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Available via HeinOnline, Statutes of the Realm is a collection of English statutes from the 13th Century to 1713. It also includes an alphabetical and chronological index. “Statutes of the Realm” is one of the most authoritative sources for older UK legislation.
From the HeinOnlien database, click on “Statutes of the Realm” in the Subscribed Libraries list.
UK Local Acts (from 1797-current)
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UK Local Acts (from 1797-current) on vLex Justis. The series contains a diverse collection of full-text, as-enacted material on land, public access and all manner of local issues.
UK Statues (from 1235-current)
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UK Statues (from 1235-current) on vLex Justis. Database contains the full text of all Acts of Parliament in England, Wales and Scotland as enacted, from 1235 to the present day. Database includes: Acts of Parliament (United Kingdom) from 1707; Church Assembly and General Synod Measures from 1920; Acts of Parliament (England) 1235 to 1706.
UK Statutory Instruments (from 1671-current)
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UK Statutory Instruments (from 1671-current) on vLex Justis .Database includes: Statutory Instruments from 1949 to present; the legislation published in Statutory Rules & Orders and Statutory Instruments Revised to December 31, 1948, which was published by HMSO in 1950 and includes regulations to 1671.

Government Publications

Historical government publications will provide you with information about the decisions of parliament and the sovereign from the period you are studying. They offer an account of major actions, political reasoning and records of events.

Print resources

The Library's print collection of historical Government Publications located in Compact Store 2 and is reference only. The print collection includes sessional papers, parliamentary debates, diaries, proceedings and periodicals, 1711-1894. For more information about the Library's Government Publications, see the Politics subject guide.

Online government publications

British History Online (Calendars of State Papers: Domestic, Scotland and Ireland) This link opens in a new window
The premium subscription content includes all the volumes of the Calendars of State Papers, Domestic and the Calendars of State Papers for Scotland and Ireland. British History Online also gives free access to digitised versions of a range of other primary and secondary sources for the medieval and early modern history of Britain.

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Cabinet Papers 1915-1978 This link opens in a new window
Gives full text access to Cabinet papers, including minutes, memoranda, conclusions of cabinet meetings, Cabinet Office precedent books, and some Cabinet Secretary's notebooks. This primary source material is accompanied by a range of supporting and background material and resources.

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Calendars of Patent Rolls
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Collection of the Calendars of Patent Rolls from the reign of Henry III (1216) to the middle of the reign of Henry VI (1452). The Patent Rolls provide an administrative record of letters patent issued by the crown, expressing the sovereign’s will on a range of public matters, compiled in the English Chancery.

Eighteenth Century Official British Parliamentary Publications Portal 1688 - 1834 This link opens in a new window
This portal provides access to 1,400 volumes of core 18th century official Parliamentary publications which include Sessional Papers, Journals and Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament, Parliamentary Registers, Private Bills, Private Acts and Local and Personal Acts.

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Fine Rolls Henry III
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Searchable database of the Calendars of Fine Rolls from the reign of Henry III (1216-1272). The Fine Rolls contain information about agreements to pay the king a sum of money for a specified concession. The database provides links to the full translated text of the Fine Rolls, 1-57.

Hansard 1803-2005 This link opens in a new window
The full text of Hansard, the Official Report of debates in Parliament. This is a prototype digitisation project still under development and the information has been provided by the Hansard Digitisation Project, led by the Directorate of Information Services of the House of Commons and the Library of the House of Lords.

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House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (ProQuest UK Parliamentary Papers) This link opens in a new window
The University has access to the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (18th - 21st centuries).
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers gives access to over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to 2023, with supplementary material back to 1688. It includes page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing.

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State Papers Online This link opens in a new window
The Stuart and Cumberland Papers from the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle are on trial until 3rd March 2025.
This major archive gives access to the following collections:

- The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Domestic
- The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Foreign, Scotland, Borders, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council
- The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Domestic
- The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Foreign, Ireland
- Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782, Part I: State Papers Domestic, Military, Naval and Registers of the Privy Council

The resource reproduces the original historical manuscripts in facsimile and links each manuscript to its corresponding fully-searchable Calendar entry.

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Databases

Key databases

Bibliography of British and Irish History (Brepolis) This link opens in a new window
You can still access the legacy BBIH interface.
Previously known as the Royal Historical Society Bibliography this is a comprehensive guide to historical writing about the history of Britain, Ireland, and the British overseas from 55BC to the present.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

Other historical databases

19th Century British Pamphlets (JSTOR) This link opens in a new window
This collection over 20,000 19th Century British Pamphlets provides online access to some of the most significant collections of this type of material held in UK research libraries, and gives a valuable an insight into the key political, social, technological and environmental issues of the time. The digitisation process is ongoing and new collections and pamphlets are still being added.

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Archive of Americana This link opens in a new window
Archive of Americana is a major database of over 30 million primary documents which brings together historical collections of books, broadsides, ephemera, government documents, and newspapers to give an insight into every aspect of United States history, culture and daily life across three centuries from 1639 to 1980.

The following collections are available:

- American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I, 1769-1900
- American State Papers, 1789-1838
- Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans 1639-1800
- Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker 1801-1819
- Early American Newspapers, Series I-V, 1690-1922
- U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries is a major collection of diaries and correspondence spanning more than 400 years and giving access to the personal experiences of nearly 500 women. It contains around 100,000 pages of published letters and diaries and over 4,000 facsimile pages of previously unpublished manuscripts. Letters and diaries of famous historic and literary figures can be found alongside the thoughts and experiences of ordinary women, including the unpublished letters and diaries of women who served during both world wars. The texts themselves are accompanied by biographies of the authors and bibliographic details of the sources.

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Early English Books Online [EEBO] (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Contains over 100,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661).

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Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) is the most ambitious single digitisation project ever undertaken which offers wide access not only to a century of the nation's intellectual heritage, but also works from earlier periods which were valued and printed or reprinted during the eighteenth century.

A library of over 180,000 eighteenth-century printed books, with more than 33 million scanned facsimile pages. Each title has a full citation record from the English Short Title Catalogue and is fully searchable - including full-text and illustrations multi-disciplinary. A research resource for all disciplines.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Over 60,000 images of original manuscripts and printed material 1492-1962 from libraries and archives around the world.

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Gerritsen Women's History Collection of Aletta H. Jacobs (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
More than 4,700 publications from continental Europe, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand.

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Grand Tour This link opens in a new window
This collection of manuscript, visual and printed works gives an insight into the English abroad c1550 to 1850. The primary material includes letters, diaries and journals, account books, printed guidebooks, published travel writing, maps, paintings, sketches, and architectural drawings. Secondary sources include introductory essays; a searchable, full-text version of John Ingamells Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800; a selection of digitised source material from the Brinsley Ford Archive at the Paul Mellon Centre, London, and an indexed collection of hundreds of modern photographs of Italy, providing a detailed visual source of all the historical sites, palaces and streets visited by tourists.

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Mass Observation Online This link opens in a new window
Mass Observation was a pioneering social research organization whose papers provide insights into the cultural and social history of Britain from 1937 to 1972. The University has purchased the complete Mass Observation Online collection giving access to:
- File reports 1937-1951.
- Publications by Mass Observation between 1937 and 1966.
- Topic Collections, 1937-1965 (87 collections).
- Day Surveys 1937-1938.
- Diaries 1939-1967.
- Directives 1939-1955.
- Worktown Collection
- Support materials (essays, maps, a bibliography, a chronology, and photographs).
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Past Masters This link opens in a new window
Collection of electronic texts in philosophy, covering the history of political thought and theory, education, religious studies, economics, classics, history and philosophy of science, Germanic studies and sociology.
Perdita Manuscripts: Women Writers, 1500-1700 This link opens in a new window
This collection has been produced in association with the Perdita Project and brings together complete digital facsimiles of nearly 270 original manuscripts containing little know material written or compiled by women in the British Isles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The manuscripts represent a wide variety of womens writing and include account books, almanacs, diaries, notebooks, receipt books, sermon notes, speeches, and treatises. The types of writing include biography and autobiography, drama, history, prayers, psalms, meditations, advice, translations, travel writing, cookery and medical recipes, and poetry.

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Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 This link opens in a new window
A searchable edition of texts detailing the lives of ordinary people, including 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

News and Reference

Newspapers

The Library has an extensive collection of newspapers dating back to the 16th Century. Newspapers are a useful primary source of historical information and will provide insight into the social, political and economic opinions of the period you are researching.

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
A digitised version of the newspapers, news-books, pamphlets, ephemera, and other early forms of newspapers from the Reverend Charles Burney Collection held at the British Library. The collection includes almost 1 million pages from around 1,270 titles and while the majority of these originate from London, there are also some English provincial, Irish and Scottish papers, and a few examples from the colonies.

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British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Includes: Parts I & II (1800-1900); Part III (1741-1950); Part IV (1732-1950); Part V (1746-1950); Part VI (Ireland, 1797-1950).

Also known as: 19th Century British Newspapers
A major collection of almost 6.4 million facsimile pages from more than 240 national, regional, and local newspapers published between the 1700's and 1950. The collection includes both daily and weekly publications with titles from established country or university towns, the industrial towns of the Midlands and the North, and from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Newspapers associated with particular political or social movements such as Reform, Chartism, and Home Rule have also been included along with penny papers aimed at a working class and clerical readership.

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American Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A collection of full text archives of American newspapers with page and article facsimile images. The University has access to: Atlanta Constitution; Atlanta Daily World; Chicago Defender; Chicago Tribune; New York Times; New York Tribune; Washington Post.

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Early American Newspapers, Series I-V, 1690-1922 (America's Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
Early American Newspapers gives access to the full text of over 1200 newspaper titles from across the United States published between 1690 and 1922.
Guardian, 1821-2003 and Observer, 1791-2003 (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The Guardian from 2004 onward is also available via YorSearch.
The Observer from 2004 onward is also available via YorSearch.
A full text archive of page and article facsimile images of the Guardian (1821 - 2003) and the Observer (1791 - 2003).

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Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 This link opens in a new window
The complete facsimile archive of the Illustrated London News, the worlds first fully illustrated weekly newspaper published between 1842 and 2003. The archive includes over 260,000 pages of text and more than 1.5 million full colour images.

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Times Digital Archive, 1785 - 2019 This link opens in a new window
A full-image archive of every page published by The Times (London) from 1785 until 2019. The text within the images is fully searchable at the article level.

For The Times from 2020 onwards see the entry: Times 1985 - present.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Reference material

Oxford English Dictionary Online This link opens in a new window
For access off-campus select the Sign in through your institution option on the OED site.
Search on words, definitions, etymology and quotations. The OED Online contains the complete text of the 20-volume Second Edition, first published in 1989, together with later additions. New and revised entries are added every quarter.

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Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
A fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of over 100 dictionaries, companions, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.

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Ancestry Institution This link opens in a new window
To access Ancestry Institution off-campus you will need to connect to the University network via the VPN or VDS.
Gives access to a wide selection of historic records including census data, UK parish records, UK birth, marriage, and death records, and British Military records.

Digital Panopticon
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Digital Panopticon allows you to search millions of records from around fifty datasets, relating to the lives of 90,000 convicts from the Old Bailey.
FBI Records: The Vault
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The Vault is the FBI's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Library, containing 6,700 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies.

Included here are many new FBI files that have been released to the public but never added to this website; dozens of records previously posted on our site but removed as requests diminished; files from our previous FOIA Library, and new, previously unreleased files.

Findmypast This link opens in a new window
To access Findmypast off-campus you will need to connect to the University network via the VPN or VDS.
Gives access to a wide selection of historic records including census data, UK parish records, Irish records and British Military records.

Law

Law and History

Law and History

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Law and History

Journals

Journals

Electronic journal collections

Law Cases and Legislation

Cases and Legislation

Cases

Legislation

Government Publications

Government Publications

Print resources

Online government publications

Databases

Databases

Key databases

Other historical databases

News and Reference

News and Reference Resources

Newspapers

Reference material