Library Guides: United Kingdom Law: Books and Journals

Search the library catalogue

To find books, search the Library Catalogue (using the search form below). Selected texts are also below.

Tip: In the catalogue search, include "United Kingdom" as a keyword or use the drop down menu to search by subject heading. Subject terms are broad, standardised terms, e.g:

Environmental Law - England
Criminal law - Wales
Labor law and legislation - England
Justice, Administration of - Wales.
Constitutional Law - Great Britain

Key titles on English legal topics

The books below include brief introductions to 97 legal topics, with a very useful list of leading texts relevant to each.

Finding English law : quick access to key titles by John Eaton
Call Number: K 62 EATO
Publication Date: 2024

Books on UK Law

Media & Entertainment Law by Ursula Smartt
Call Number: KN 343 A1 SMAR
Publication Date: Routledge, 4th ed, 2019
The Changing Constitution by Jeffrey Jowell & Colm O'Cinneide (eds)
Call Number: KM 61 CHAN
Publication Date: OUP. 8th ed, 2019
Stretching the Constitution by Andrew Blick
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: Bloomsbury, 2019
The Supreme Court : an analytic history of constitutional decision making by Tom S Clark
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: Cambridge University Press, 2019
Understanding Legislation: a practical guide to statutory interpretation by Charlie Potter; David Lowe
Call Number: KL 35.1 A1 LOWE
Publication Date: Hart Publishing, 2018.
Contract Law in Scotland by Hector MacQueen & Joe Thomson
Call Number: KN 10 B2 MACQ
Publication Date: Bloomsbury, 4th ed, 2016
Human Rights Law in Scotland by Robert John Reed; Jim Murdoch
Call Number: KM 212 REED
Publication Date: Bloomsbury Professional , 2017.
The Constitution of the United Kingdom: a contextual analysis by Peter Leyland
Call Number: KM 61 LEYL
Publication Date: Bloomsbury, 3rd, 2016
England's Great Transformation: Law, Labor, and the Industrial Revolution by Marc W Steinberg
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: University of Chicago Press, 2016

Journals

To find journal articles, use the following databases (all are UniMelb access only):

Westlaw UK
Westlaw UK gives you access to vast but easily searchable databases of case law, legislation, news, legal journals, commentary, current awareness alerts and EU legal materials.
HeinOnline
Fully searchable, image-based collection of legal classics from the 16th to the 20th centuries as well as current-day law journals.
Cambridge Core Journals
Cambridge University Press currently publishes over 300 peer-reviewed academic journals for the global market. Cambridge Journals Online contain the latest research from a broad sweep of subject areas. From September 2016 titles are available via the Cambridge Core platform alongside Cambridge Books, Histories and Companions.
Lexis Advance US Research (International)
Lexis is an online legal research tool which offers US federal public laws and the US Code Service, as well as US state codes, federal and state registers and state constitutions; over 900 full-text US legal journals and law reviews; and the Shepard's Citator service. The database also contains material from over 150 countries.

Legal histories

Introduction to English Legal History by John Baker
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: OUP, 5th ed, 2019
Commentaries on the Laws of England: Book I, Of the rights of people by William Blackstone; ed by David Lemmings
Call Number: KL 11 BLAC
Publication Date: OUP, 2016
Commentaries on the Laws of England: Book II, Of the rights of things by William Blackstone; ed by Simon Stern
Call Number: KL 11 BLAC
Publication Date: OUP, 2016
The Oxford History of the Laws of England by R. H. Helmholz
ISBN: 0198258976
Publication Date: 2004-04-08
This volume traces the reception and subsequent history of the canon law in England between 597 and 1649. It covers, amongst other topics, the Anglo-Saxon laws, both secular and spiritual; the establishment of consistory courts; and the fate of the canon law during and after the English reformation.Secondly, this volume addresses the subjects under ecclesiastical jurisdiction: Civil procedure and the Law of Proof; monetary obligations and economic regulation; testamentary law and probate jurisdiction; tithes and spiritual dues; churches and the clergy; marriage and divorce; defamation; and crimes and criminal procedure. These subjects are examined using evidence from later medieval and early modern court records, and the volume seeks to place them within the context of formal canon law. The volume also places ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the context of English society and the English common law.

Selden Society Publications and the History of Early English Law
The Selden Society was founded in 1887 to encourage the study and advance the knowledge of the history of English law. The Selden Society researches and studies the history of the law, development of legal ideas, the legal profession, the courts, judges and lawyers, literature and legal records, English common law and the legal system. Provides access to early English legal history manuscripts and yearbooks.
Making of modern law : Legal treatises 1800-1926
Provides digital images on every page of 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law published from 1800 through 1926. Full-text searching on more than 10 million pages provides researchers access to critical legal history in ways not previously possible.