Abridgments of the Year Books
There are several texts known as abridgments to the Year Books. They incorporate cases from the Year Books but also cases that do not appear in the Year Books but which come from that period. Generally, the cases are arranged by subject matter
- An exact abridgment in English, of the eleven books of reports of the learned Sir Edward Coke, Knight, late lord chiefe justice of England and of the Councell of Estate to His Majesty, King James byCall Number: Available online (UniM access)Publication Date: 1651
- An introduction to Fitzherbert's Abridgement byCall Number: K 62 BOERISBN: 9780521685658Publication Date: 2007-04-12An introduction to Fitzherbert's Abridgement / by Frederick Lister Boersma
- Statham's abridgement byAbridgment of Cases to the End of Henry VI (1461)
- La graunde abridgement byPublication Date: 2009'Contains a digest of all the cases in the year-books, down to the 21 Hen VII ... as well as cases from the reigns of Rich. II, Edw. I and II, Hen. III, and a number of readings and original authorities no where else to be found' Marvin, Legal Bibliography, 1847
History of Law Reporting
- The reporters; arranged and characterized with incidental remarks byCall Number: Available online (UniMelb access)Publication Date: 1882
- An exact abridgment in English, of the eleven books of reports of the learned Sir Edward Coke, Knight, late lord chiefe justice of England and of the Councell of Estate to His Majesty, King James byCall Number: Available online (UniM access)Publication Date: 1651
- Origins in EnglandFor a summary of the evolution of law reporting, see Origins in England from the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for the State of Queensland (ICLRQ). For more detailed information, see the books below.
- Judical records, law reports and the growth of case law byCall Number: KL 32 JUDIPublication Date: 1989
- Observing and recording the medieval bar and bench at work: the origins of law reporting in England byCall Number: KL 33 A1 BRANPublication Date: 1999
- The history and origin of the law reports byCall Number: Available online (UniMelb access)Publication Date: 1884
Other useful databases
- Privy Council PapersThis website presents the first digital catalogue of the 'Printed Papers' of Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC), which was the final court of appeal for the British empire and later, for several countries of the Commonwealth. The 'Printed Papers in appeal' are detailed 'case-records' associated with appeal cases heard by the JCPC, which supplement the judgements. This catalogue contains key details for 9,368 cases, decided between 1792-1998, links to full-text judgements from BAILII where available, and the full text Printed Papers for 6 cases.
- Selden Society Publications and the History of Early English LawThe 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.
- Anglo-American Legal TraditionDocuments from Medieval and Early Modern England from the National Archives in London (digitized and displayed through The O'Quinn Law Library of the University of Houston Law Center)
List of Year Books (dates and locations)
This document shows the date ranges of various year books and locations of online and hard copy versions.
Year books
The first reported law cases appeared in the Year Books from the medieval period. The earliest examples date from about 1268, and the last in the printed series are for the year 1535. Year books are "anonymous compliations arranged chronologically by regnal year and law term. Their function orginally appears not to have been to record precedents as such, but to act as educational tools through which developments in the law were discussed." (Butterworths Legal Research Guide/Guy Holburn (2006) p.169)
Butterworths Legal Research Guide by Call Number: Law High Use KL 155 HOLBPublication Date: OUP, 2005
Accessing Year Books
The Year Books are accessible through a range of resources. Some of the titles are given below, for a full list of year book titles and where they are available, see below.
- A Complete collection of state-trials and proceedings for high treason and other crimes and misdemeanoursCobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials / William Cobbett and Thomas B Howell (eds) (reports from 1338 to 1777) availabe online through The Making of Modern Law (UniMelb access)
- Select cases concerning the law merchantSelect Cases Concerning the Law Merchant / Charles Gross (ed) (reports from 1239 to 1779) available through HeinOnline (SS publication no.23, 46 & 49)
- Year books / [introductory tables and notes] byYear Books, or, Reports in the Following Reigns, With Notes to Brooke and Fitzherbert's Abridgments: the Vulgate edition / John Maynard and David Seipp (eds) (reports from 1307 to 1538) available through HeinOnline.
- Select cases in the Exchequer Chamber before all the justices of England bySelect Cases in the Exchequer Chamber, Before All the Justices of England / Mary Hemmant (ed) (reports from 1377 to 1509) available through HeinOnline (SS publication no.51 and 64)
Indexes and other resources
- Legal History: The Year BooksAn Index and Paraphrase of Printed Year Book Reports, 1268 - 1535 / complied by David J Seipp
This contemporary index enables more comprehensive access to the content of the year books. Also includes Article and Book Bibliography listing articles and books that discuss the Year books (and the Abridgements) or employ them as principal sources. - English Medieval Legal Documents DatabaseThis is a collaborative database on the published sources of English medieval legal documents, and provides links to the growing number of online sources currently being developed. It lists the reign of each monarch in the period and the year books that pertain to that year.
- A manual of year book studiesCall Number: Q20195This book examines the history of the Year Book and its role in English law. An appendix includes facsimilies of yearbook entries along with a transliteration and translation of each.
- Making of modern law : Legal treatises 1800-1926The year books : lectures delivered in the University of London at the request of the Faculty of Laws / Sir William Craddock Bolland (1921)
This series of lectures examines the history, purpose and language of the Year Books.
Law reports
Nominate Reports
From around 1535, court cases began to be published in a more systematic fashion. "The pattern was for reports to be issued by commercial publishers under the name of the particular law reporter, who usually covered a particular court. Because these reports are know by the reporter's name, they are referred to as nominate reports." (Butterworths Legal Research Guide/Guy Holburn (2006) p.168)
- Butterworths Legal Research Guide by Call Number: Law High Use KL 155 HOLBPublication Date: OUP, 2005
- Nominate ReportsA list of nominate reports held by the Law Library
Many of the cases from nominate reports were reprinted in The English Reports. This series contains reprinted decisions of all English courts from 1220 to the commencement of the official Law Reports in 1866.
- HeinOnlineThe English Reports
Nominate report cases
- The English Reports - Hard CopyCall Number: UniM Law REPHard copy of the entire series in Law Library
- Nominate Report Cases - Hard CopyCall Number: UniM Law REPThe revised reports : being a republication of such cases in the English Courts of Common Law and Equity, from the year 1785, as are still of practical utility
- English Reports - CommonLIIOnline Access
For a list of nominate reports, their abbreviations and locations in the English Reports, see the following sources:
- HeinOnlineChart of Reports
- The practical guide to Canadian legal research byCall Number: UniM Law KL 155 F1 MCCOPublication Date: 2010See page 338
- Sweet & Maxwell's guide to law reports, statutes and regnal yearswith abbreviations used in citing law reports
- The Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviationssearch for the nominate report name here. The record will list which volumes of the English Reports contain these cases.
When citing nominate reports, you should also include a parallel citation of the English Reports (or the Revised Reports) where available
- Australian Guide to Legal CitationRule 24.1.2, Australian Guide to Legal Citation, 4th edition, p.251
The Law Reports
The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting was established in 1865 as the authorised publisher of the official series of The Law Reports for the Superior and Appellate Courts of England and Wales. The Law Reports are still recognised as the authorised reports today.
- ICLR Online ICLR Online is the hub of legal authorities dating back to 1865. It is a dedicated case law platform presenting the cases that matter in a comprehensive and readable format. ICLR Online combines the law reports of the judicial decisions of the Superior and Appellate Courts in England and Wales with Citator+ index cards to present all the relevant case information in one screen. ICLR judgments are triple checked for accuracy and presented with absolute clarity.
- 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.
- 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.
- Catalogue Results for Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and WalesThe Law Reports are available in hard copy in the Law Library
Old Bailey cases
- The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913a fully searchable website of criminal cases held at London's central criminal court.
- Trials in the Old BaileySee also this guide for accessing Trials in the Old Bailey and the Central Criminal Court produced by The National Archives.
Trials
Reports and transcripts of historical trials are available through a number of sources.
- Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600-1926 This link opens in a new windowThis collection describes the courtroom dramas that rocked society in America, the British Empire and the world between 1600 and 1926. This fully searchable digital collection includes unofficially published accounts of trials; official trial documents, briefs and arguments; and official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings and arbitrations.
- Old Bailey Online (1674-1913)The proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's central criminal court from 1674 to 1913. The Proceedings contain accounts of trials which took place at the Old Bailey.
- World Trials LibraryHeinOnline’s World Trials Collection contains not only trial transcripts and other critical court documents, but also trial-related resources such as monographs which analyze and debate the decisions of famous trials. It also includes biographies of many of the greatest trial lawyers in history. This collection delivers previously hard-to-obtain historical content to the desktops of researchers worldwide.
- Notable historical trials / selected and edited by Justin LovillThe intention of these four volumes has been to create a collection of classic accounts of notable historical trials designed for the general reader. Trials include Anne Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots, Sir Walter Ralegh, The Gunpowder Plot, The Suffolk Witches, The Bounty Mutineers and Burke and Hare.
- English causes célèbres, or, Reports of remarkable trials / George L Craik (1840)From the introduction, "this work aims at presenting, in a popular form, everything that can be made generally interesting in ... the records of proceedings of all kinds in Courts of Justice". (1661 to 1797). Available through The Making of Modern Law (UniMelb access)
- Famous trials / by the first Earl of BirkenheadFrom the preface, "Here is mankind under the microscope, the raw materials of fifty novels fashioned into glittering gems of narrative and character-drawing. With equal skill he unravels the complex threads of famous criminal and civil cases". Includes well known cases such as the trial of Mary Queen of Scots, the trial of Captain Kidd and the plot to murder Mr Lloyd George. Available through HeinOnline (UniMelb access)
- State Trials (1163-1858) on JustisOver 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, e.g. Ministers or Governors of Colonies. 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. It comprises two of the most authoritative 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 sourced from National Collections and the English (Nominate) Reports.
See also print volumes at http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/record=b2173335~S30 - British Trials (1660 - 1900) microformBritish Trials 1660-1900 republishes, in an organized and thoroughly indexed collection, those accounts which were originally published as separate pamphlets or books for sale to the public at large. The majority are verbatim transcripts of what was said in court, and from 1750 these were compiled by the foremost shorthand experts of the day. In the seventeenth century the reports tended to be brief summaries of trial proceedings, but even these usually provide more information than other sources
Australian court records
- Law Reports (New South Wales) 1856-1900Cases from the LR (NSW) report series on AustLII.
- State Reports (New South Wales) 1901-1950Cases from the SR (NSW) report series on AustLII.
- New South Wales Law AlmanacsThis directory provides details of solicitors, barristers and the judiciary in NSW from 1886 to 2012. It also contains information on court sittings, phases of the moon and other useful information.
- South Australian Law Reports 1863-1920Cases from the SALR report series on AustLII.
- Tasmanian Law Reports 1897-1940Cases from the TLR report series on AustLII.
- Victorian Law Reports 1874-1956Cases from the VLR report series on AustLII.
- Cops and robbers: a guide to researching 19th century police and criminal records in VictoriaA book held at the Library.
- Western Australian Law Reports 1898-1958Cases from the WALR report series on AustLII.
- Famous Australian trials and memories of the law / Phillip A Jacobs (1944)This small volume contains reports of famous Australian cases from 1826 to 1911, as well as legal anecdotes of the time.
- ANU Legal History GuideThis research guide includes a tab on colonial cases and law reports.
- Court cases in AustraliaThis guide from the State Library of Victoria describes how to search for information about court cases in Victoria and the Commonwealth. It also provides an extensive number of links to other resources.