Law Library Research Guide:
Legal History
Treatises and Collections:
- The legal history section is available on the Law Library Third Floor, Ranges 318 (American Legal History) and 327 (Constitutional Law and Constitutional History). There are many hundreds of works on American Legal History available in the Law Library. look in the GMU Library Catalog. Listed in alphabetical order are some prime examples (all titles are located on the 3rd floor unless marked REFERENCE)
- The American Heritage History of the Law in America, by Alvin M. Josephy and Bernard Schwartz, eds. KF352 .S34 (1974).
- American State Trials: A Collection of the Important and Interesting Criminal Trials Which Have Taken Place in the United States...., John Davison Lawson, ed. KF220 .A45 2000. (Originally published 1914-1936).
- Documentary History of the Constitution of the United States of America, 1786-1870, U.S. State Dept. KF4502 .R63 1998. (5 vols; originally published 1894).
- The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Merrill Jensen, ed. KF4502 .D63. (Multi-volume set; series began in 1976).
- The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800, KF8742.A45 D66 1985.
- Documents of American Constitutional & Legal History, edited by Melvin I. Urofsky. KF350 .D635. (2 vols., 2008).
- English Common Law in the Early American Colonies, Paul Samuel Reinsch. KF394.Z9 R4 1977.
- Essays in Nineteenth Century American Legal History, Wythe Holt, ed. KF366 .E8. (1976).
- The Formative Era of American Law, Roscoe Pound. KF352 .P69. (1938).
- The Founders’ Constitution, Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds. KF4502 .F68. (5 vols., 1987).
- Historic U.S. Court Cases: An Encyclopedia, John W. Johnson, ed. REFERENCE KF385.A4 J64 2001.
- Historical Introduction to Anglo-American Law in a Nutshell, Frederick G. Kempin. KD532.Z9 K44 1990.
- A History of American Law, Lawrence M. Friedman. KF352 .F7 2005.
- History of the Supreme Court of the United States, KF8742.A45 H55. Multi-volume history of the Supreme Court, each volume separately titled.
- Illustrated Great Decisions of the Supreme Court, Tony Mauro. REFERENCE KF4549 .M334 2006.
- Judicial Review in American History: Major Historical Interpretations, Kermit L. Hall, ed. KF4575.A75 J83 1987.
- The Literature of American Legal History, William E. Nelson and John Phillip Reid. KF352 .N45 1985.
- Milestones!: 200 Years of American Law: Milestones in our Legal History, Jethro K. Lieberman. KF352 .L54.
- Outlines of the History of English and American Law, William F. Walsh. KD606 .W35 1995 (Originally published 1924).
- Readings in American Legal History, Mark De Wolfe Howe. KF351 .H68 1971. (Originally published 1949).
- The Supreme Court and American Political Development, Ronald Kahn and Ken I. Kersch, eds. KF8742 .S897 2006.
Indexes:
Journals:
Full-Text Electronic Resources:
- American Periodicals Series (APS) - Contains digitized images of the original pages of over 1100 American magazines and journals that originated between 1740 and 1940s, spanning nearly 200 years-from colonial times to the advent of American involvement in World War II.
- Chadwyck-Healey Historical Newspapers Online - Contains The Index to The New York Times for 1851-1923; indexes to the Times of London for 1790 through 1980; and the full text of the London Times for 1785-1870.
- Early American Imprints Collection Series I (Evans) - Definitive primary source collection of research materials from the 17th and 18th century America (Coverage: 1639-1800). Collection contains digitized representations of all known existing books, pamphlets, & broadsides printed in the United States.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO) - Early English Books Online contains full-text images of more than 100,000 tiles of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700. EEBO covers such subjects as English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, theology, music, fine arts, education, mathematics, & science.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online - Law, 1701-1800 - A digital collection of over 9,000 legal treatises published in the British Empire and covering a critical era in the development of Anglo-American law and legal practice. British common law, which served as the underlying basis for the laws of the British Colonies in the Americas and elsewhere, was undergoing a crucial transformation.
- HarpWeek (Harper's Weekly), 1857-1912 - America's leading 19th Century illustrated newspaper, fully searchable in pdf.
- Hein Online - Contains 1000+ legal journals from the 18th century to the present in the Law Journal Library; the Statutes at Large Library beginning with Vol. 1; the Federal Register from 1936 to the present; more than 1000 19th and early 20th Century legal treatises in Legal Classics; Treaties and Agreements, and many more resources, all in pdf.
- Historic Documents - Issued annually by Congressional Record Press since 1972, the Historic Document series provides full-text primary sources covering each year's most significant events. Presidential speeches, international agreements, and Supreme Court decisions are among the sources included.
- Historical Statistics of the United States REFERENCE HA202 .H57 2006, and Online
- JSTOR -Search full-text of major historical journals from their first volumes up through recent years.
- LLMC - A rapidly-expanding database containing many hard-to-find materials. It presently has British Empire Studies, Military Law and Native American Collections, among others. It also has the Index to the Federal Statutes, 1874-1931.
- Making of Modern Law - A digitized database of 22,000+ British and American legal treatises published 1800-1926. Searchable by full-text, keyword, subject, and other fields.
- Proquest Historical Newspapers - Full text of the Atlanta Constitution, 1868-1939; Boston Globe 1872-1924; Chicago Tribune 1849-1986; Christian Science Monitor 1908-1994; Los Angeles Times 1881-1986; New York Times 1851-2004; Wall Street Journal 1889-1990; Washington Post 1877-1991; as well as the Americal Periodical Series Online (APS), a database of over 1500 periodicals, 1740-1940.
- U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs, 1832-1978 is a digitized archive of court documents, including appellants', appellees' and amicus curiae briefs (but not the opinions), plus records, for United States Supreme Court cases.
- United States at War - This resource provides coverage of 14 major wars/conflicts, 1570 to present. Each war is divided by general overview, causes, opponents, consequences, & timeline. There are collections of themed essays, written by scholars, about issues such as political, economic, military, & social impacts of the wars. The Research section allows users to search thousands of primary & secondary sources, including articles, personal narratives, images, video files, etc. It also contains country profiles.
Other Online Resources:
- The Avalon Project at Yale Law School - A compilation of documents in law, history and diplomacy from the 18th Century to the present.
- Online Library of Liberty- A collection of over one thousand historical titles on individual liberty, limited constitutional government, and the free market available free of charge to the public, for educational purposes from the Liberty Fund.
- Library of Congress American Memory Project - Of particular interest is the "Government, Law" link, which provides access to numerous collections, including U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875
- Making of America is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction, containing approximately 10,000 books and 50,000 journal articles from more than a dozen journals.
- National Archives and Records Administration safeguards and preserves the Government's records.
- GPO Access provides access to what it calls "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy", including the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and others.
