legal history

À la Recherche des Travaux Préparatoires : An Approach to Researching the Drafting History of International Agreements

Guide to researching the drafting history of international agreements, by Jonathan Pratter, Foreign and International Law Librarian at Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas at Austin. The guide was published in 2005 (and updated in 2017) on New York University's Globalex website. The author provides an introduction to travaux préparatoires, guidance on how to find them and details of publications which can help with this search.

Harry A. Blackmun Papers

Online guide to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun's papers produced by the Manuscript Reading Room at the Library of Congress where the collection is housed and made freely available on their website. The collection includes papers from 1913 to 2001 with most of the material covering Justice Blackmun's time as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Honorable Society of King's Inns

The Honorable Society of King's Inns is the body which governs entry to the barristers' profession in Ireland. The site features details of the King's Inns admissions requirements and of the educational courses offered: the Diploma in Legal Studies and the Degree of Barrister-at-Law. Links are available to prominent Irish and international legal resources. A short history of the institution is included, illustrated with pictures of the architecture and profiles of famous graduates.

Forum Historiae Iuris

Forum Historiae Iuris is a legal history journal which is made freely available online by the Law Faculty at Humboldt University in Berlin. The journal includes articles, book reviews, lectures and research news most of which are presented in German. A selection of articles can be viewed in either English, French or Italian and some have an English summary. Articles are arranged by date and historical period including antiquity, middle ages, early modern period and nineteenth to twentieth century. Articles are made available in HTML or PDF formats.

Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History

The aim of the Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History is to "encourage the study and advance the knowledge of the history of Australian law". The Society is named after Sir Francis Forbes who was the first chief justice of New South Wales between 1823 and 1837. The website includes information about the Forbes Society, its council members and annual lectures. The Society's newsletter the Forbes Flyer is made freely available online in PDF. This provides details about events and activities of the Forbes Society and articles of legal and historical interest.

St. Louis Circuit Court Historical Records Project

website of the St. Louis Circuit Court Historical Records Project which is hosted by the American Culture Studies Program in Arts & Sciences at the Washington University in St. Louis in partnership with various other government, university, legal, and business organisations. The collection comprises historical records from 1804 to 1875 including civil, criminal and chancery cases. The website provides access to case files dealing with specific subjects which have been made freely available online as a searchable database.

1st Amendment Online

Website of 1st Amendment Online set up by Adam Samaha, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Minnesota Law School. Although the site has not been updated since 2004 it does contain many useful legal materials relating to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and includes cases, historical documents, opinion polls, and primary sources. Important cases concerning the 1st Amendment from the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals and the Minnesota Supreme Court are presented on the site as PDF documents.

Roman Law Library

Collection of Roman laws made available via the University of Grenoble website. The site was founded by Alexandre Koptev and Yves Lassard and has contributors from many different European universities. The laws are available in full, in Latin, with French and English translations. The site also provides bibliographies of Roman history and law and a page of links.

Proceedings of the Old Bailey: 1674 to 1913

Free online version of the Proceedings of the Old Bailey (London's Central Criminal Court), produced by the Open University and the Universities of Hertfordshire and Sheffield. Covers historical and legal background to trials at the Old Bailey as well as the accounts of criminal trials held there from 1674 to 1913 (when publication of the Proceedings ceased). Full text accounts are provided in HTML as well as digital images of the original reports and pictures from legal materials of the time. The Proceedings can be searched by keyword, name, date, crime and verdict and punishment.

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