On this page, you will find a bibliography of legal resources available at the Archives Library and Information Centre. For more information, including biographies of individuals, consult the ALIC online public catalogue. * Available in the library in Archive I. Description: Introduction to the study of English legal history. In Chapter VII (pp. 145-183), “Case Law”, Section 2 provides an overview of directories as sources of case law. Section 4 discusses directories, their origin, content and decline in more detail. Section 4 also contains a bibliography of early black editions of letters, modern editions, and secondary sources. Chapter VIII (pp. 200-251) “Compendiums” gives an overview of the reductions in the directory: Statham, Abridgement of the Book of Assizes, Fitzherbert and Brooke. Quotations in parentheses and narrative citations in the text are formatted in the same way as any other source (first item in the reference list entry, year), although, unlike other sources, court decisions and cases italicize the title in the citation in the text. For example (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954).
Description: An article that deals with the origin of the requirement of a specialty to win a contractual penalty. The author also discusses examples of the application of oral covenants before adoption at the end of the fourteenth century. The cases of the directory are cited and discussed throughout the document. Description: In order to produce a complete bibliography of English law, the author explains the imperfect state of bibliographic records of the Anglo-Saxon period and the Middle Ages and proposes various reforms. Description: A list and description of sources, secondary documents and reference works dealing with English legal history. Two sections dedicated to directories and their modern publication by the Roll Series, the Selden Society and the Ames Foundation. Contains a complete bibliography. Description: This article traces the culpability through the stages of drafting, appearance of the accused, disposition of briefs, evidence and verdict. The author provides translated examples of the four different ways in which a case can be resolved: summarily, by the gambling of the law, by the jury, and by the inquiry. This article translates, quotes and discusses many directory cases.
Description: Reference to the close relationship between the history of the book and legal history. Three examples, the rediscovery of the Roman Law Digest in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the creation of the alphabetical index, the influence of Roman law on early nineteenth-century American jurisprudence via institutes, and an analysis of John Livingston`s 1856 catalog of law books demonstrating the vast intellectual reach of the nineteenth-century jurist. Here is an example of a court decision: Description: Announcement of the discovery of manuscripts from the reign of Edward II, MS 446 of the Duke of Northumberland and MS 243 of the Earl of Leicester. The author maintains that a bibliography of all known manuscripts is necessary. Description: Page xxxix-l of “Abridgements of Common Law and Equity” deals with Statham, the abstract of the Book of Assizes, Fitzherbert and Brooke and their publication. Page 1-157 is a chronological bibliography of abstracts, abstracts, dictionaries and indexes. Description: The history and study of French law. Contains notes on grammar, common abbreviations, and contractions commonly found in law books. Pages 29 to 37 are a bibliography of interpretive aids. Page 43-205 is a glossary of active vocabulary (less than 1000 words) from the Middle Tudor period. Bibliography format for legal theses: Broadly the same as above, except that separate tables of European or international case law/legislation/legal documents (if any) must appear between the end of the thesis and the beginning of the bibliography.
The purpose of the bibliography at the thesis level is to provide a list of secondary sources, i.e. books, journals, online documents, websites, blogs. Description: Begins with a narrative depicting the sights and sounds of a 13th century English courtroom. Explains the origin and structure of directories. A piece of black text from the Vulgate edition is reproduced, and examples of the more “human” elements in the reports are provided.