Subject Guides: Legal History Seminar: Home

Librarian

Olivia Ivey

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Subjects: Laws, Cases, and Legal Scholarship, Political Science & Government, Public Administration

Legal History Databases

HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new window
All students will find value in the law journal library, which contains 2000 law periodicals. Look past that first collection for English Reports from 1220-1867 CE, Early American Case Law, United Nations Law Collection, Immigration Law & Policy in the United States, American Indian Law, History of International Law, World Constitutions, and more.

Legal Information Institute
Free access to primary legal documents from U.S. Federal and State law and world law.
Library of Congress American Memory Project
Digitized primary sources on topics including the Continental Congress, Slavery and the Courts, and Women's Suffrage.

Making of Modern Law: Historic Trials 1600-1926 This link opens in a new window
A digital collection of more than 10,000 titles and around two million pages of printed material on U.S. trials from 1600 to 1925. Includes unofficially published accounts of trials, official trial documents, briefs and arguments, and official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings and arbitration. It is comprised primarily of holdings of the Harvard and Yale law libraries, as well as the Library of the Bar of the City of New York.
Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926 This link opens in a new window
Digitized images of 22,000 British and American legal treatises from 1800 to 1926. They include books, casebooks, practice books, pamphlets, letters, speeches, essays and other works about the making of law, but not the transcript of actual laws or actual cases.
Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources, Part I, 1620-1926 This link opens in a new window
A digital archive of cases, statutes, and regulations in America's history. Please check the "i" button for more details.
A digital archive of cases, statutes and regulations in America's history. Among the materials included are: significant codes and code-like compilations from all states up to 1926; documents from significant constitutional conventions from all states up to 1926; enacted and proposed city charters and ordinances as well as official documents relating to them; all the major American law dictionaries up to 1926; digests or indexes to reported cases arranged by subject; and a collection of more than 60 printed titles with the records and documents that detail the legislation and court proceedings of the American colonies. Most of the material in this database is derived from the collections of the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale University.
Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 This link opens in a new window
A digital collection of more than 240,000 documents on more than 100,000 U.S. Supreme Court cases. It is a valuable database of primary source documents, as well as material presenting the background and context of the cases. This collection covers the Supreme Court from the final years of the fourth chief justice, John Marshall, through the first ten years of the court's 15th chief justice, Warren Earl Burger.

Yale Law School Avalon Project
Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy. Arranged by time period: Ancient, Medieval, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st Centuries
British History Online
primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, with a primary focus on the period between 1300 and 1800
Legal History on the Web
extensive list of publicly available databases

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Contains documents published by Congress including hearings, floor debates, bill text, legislative histories, and reports from the Congressional Research Service. Dates vary by publication and range from 1789-present.
This resource was made possible in part through the Lee Somers Endowed Library Fund.

Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1694-1913
Contains 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

ProQuest News & Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Emphasis on 20th-century historic newspapers. Coverage includes major American newspapers and prominent publications from underrepresented voices such as African American news, Jewish news, and publications covering gender issues.
Washington Evening Star This link opens in a new window
Searchable database of The Washington Evening Star from 1852 - 1981.
This resource was made possible through the Brown Fund.
Associated Press Collections Online This link opens in a new window
This three part collection includes News Features & internal communications from 1848-2000, Washington, D.C. Bureau records from 1938-2009, and U.S. City Bureaus from 1931-2004).
This resource was made possible through the Samuel & Lucy Keker Endowed Library Fund.
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
ArchiveGrid is a database of archival finding aids from libraries, museums, and archives. It helps identify archival materials such as historical documents, personal papers, and family histories and where they are.
Accessible Archives Complete This link opens in a new window
Primary source material from 18th and 19th Century publications, including The Liberator 1831-1865, Godey`s Lady`s Book 1830-1889, The Pennsylvania Gazette 1728-1800, The Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective, African American Newspapers: The 19th Century, American County Histories to 1900, The Pennsylvania Genealogical Catalogue, The Pennsylvania Newspaper Record, and The South Carolina Gazette.

Legal History Seminar

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Legal History Databases

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