Legal History

Reference Shelf

This is a brief guide to legal history at Boston College. Designed to introduce students to scholarly research and find primary sources.

This page has a lot on it. You can use the following anchors (links down the page) to jump straight to a relevant box.

For more in-depth coverage of the law and legal resources, consider visiting the BC Law Library's Legal Resource Guides.

Findlaw's Law Dictionary
Free access to over 8260 definitions of legal terms. Search for a definition or browse our legal glossaries.
Wex - LII's legal dictionary and legal encyclopedia
Wex is a free legal dictionary and encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School. Wex entries are collaboratively created and edited by legal experts.
Legal Dictionary from Law.com

The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History by Stanley N. Katz (Editor-In-Chief)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection
Publication Date: 2009-04-17
Using statutes and administrative rulings, judicial decisions, and descriptions of legislatures, agencies, and courts, the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History offers a clear background on geographically distinctive laws, their origins, and their consequences throughout world history.

Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new window
Cambridge Collections Online offers subject or theme based collections of content. At present, there are two collections comprising the Cambridge Companions in Literature and Classics and the Cambridge Companions in Philosophy, Religion and Culture. Each collection is updated with new Companions on publication and are cross-searchable.

The Oxford Handbook of Legal History by Christopher Tomlins; Markus D. Dubber (eds.)
Call Number: Oxford Handbooks Online: Law
Publication Date: 2018+ (updated)
Legal history has expanded beyond traditional parochial boundaries to become increasingly international and comparative in scope and orientation. Drawing on scholarship from around the world, and representing a variety of methodological approaches, areas of expertise, and research agendas, this timely compendium takes stock of legal history and methodology and reflects on the various modes of the historical analysis of law, past, present, and future.
Oxford Handbook of European Legal History by Heikki Pihlajamäki; Markus D. Dubber; Mark Godfrey (eds)
Call Number: Oxford Handbooks Online: Law
Publication Date: 2018+ (updated)
European law, including both civil law and common law, has gone through several major phases of expansion in the world.

General Resources
Nolo Press, a publisher of legal self-help books, provides thousands of free articles on everyday legal topics written in plain English.
Massachusetts Self-help Resources
The Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries provide information on how the Massachusetts Court System operates and how to locate other services that might be available to you.