Guides: English Legal History Research Guide: English Secondary Sources

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English Secondary Sources

There are many more general sources of English legal history than can be listed here. A few are included, as they have proved their worth over the years. Some of these sources are helpful for early American or colonial research.

Baker, John H. An Introduction to English Legal History. 5th ed. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
Stacks INTL ; KD532 .B34 2019.
Baker, John H. An introduction to English legal history. Oxford Scholarship Complete Online Version.
Baker, John H. Sources of English legal history : public law to 1750. Oxford, New York : Oxford University Press.
Stacks INTL ; KD3930 .B35 2024.
Baker and Milsom sources of English legal history : private law to 1750. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press.
Stacks INTL ; KD720 .S6 2010.
Brand, Paul.Kings, Barons and Justices: The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Stacks INTL ; KD608 .B73 2003.
Cale, Michelle. Law and Society: An Introduction to Sources for Criminal and Legal History from 1800. Kew, Surrey: PRO Publications, 1996.
Stacks INTL ; KD530 .C34 1996.
Carter, A.T. A History of English Legal Institutions. 1910 Edtion
Stacks INTL ; KD532 .C37 1910.
Carter, A.T. A History of English Legal Institutions. Reprint edition of London: Butterworths, 1902. Littleton, Co.: F.B. Rothman, 1986. KD532.C37 1986r
Stacks INTL ; KD532 .C37 1986r.
Cobbett, William. Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England From the Norman Conquest in 1066, to the Year 1803. 36 vols. London: R. Bagshaw, 1806-1820.
Special Collections ; KD4190 .C63 1806 Quarto.
Cockburn, J.S. A History of English Assizes, 1558-1714. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
Stacks INTL ; KD6913 .C6.
Coquillette, Daniel R. The Anglo-American Legal Heritage: Introductory Materials. 2nd ed. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2004.
Stacks INTL ; KD532 .C67 2004.
Feldbrugge, F.J.M., ed. The Law's Beginnings. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2003.
Stacks ; K160 .L397 2003.
Fifoot, C.H.S. History and Sources of the Common Law. Reprint ed. of 1949 ed. New York: Greenwood Press, 1970.
Stacks INTL ; KD671.A7 F5 1970r.
Graham, Jenny. The Nation, the Law, and the King: Reform Politics in England, 1789-1799. 2 vols. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2000.
Stacks INTL ; KD606 .G68 2000.
Griffiths, Bill. An Introduction to Early English Law. Norfolk: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1995.
Stacks INTL ; KD606 .G75 1995.
Holdsworth, William S. A History of English Law. 16 vols. London; Methuen: Sweet and Maxwell, 1966.
Consult Holdsworth when choosing a topic or clarifying obscure legal words. Each volume is chronological from medieval times to 1875. The last volume is the index volume. It is also a good source of primary and secondary sources. Stacks INTL ; KD532 .H58 1966r.
Holdsworth, William S. Sources and Literature of English Law. Aalen : Scientia Verlag.
Stacks INTL ; KD530 .H6 1977r.
Holdsworth, William S. Sources and Literature of English Law. HeinOnline Legal Classics Library.
Holdsworth, William S. Sources and Literature of English Law. Hein Online Selden Society Publications.
Kirkby, Diane & Catharine Coleborne, eds. Law, History, Colonialism: The Reach of Empire. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press; New York: Distributed in the USA by Palgrave, 2001.
Stacks INTL ; KZ1269 .E49 2001.
Kynell, Kurt von S. Saxon and medieval antecedents of the English common law. Lewiston, NY : Edwin Mellen Press. 2000
Stacks INTL ; KD554 .K96 2000
Maxwell, L. Howard. A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations. 8 vols. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1955.
Called Sweet & Maxwell's Legal Bibliography. Vols. 1: English law before 1800; vol. 2: English law 1801-1950. The other volumes are for other commonwealth countries. Although a bit old, Sweet & Maxwell's Legal Bibliography is an excellent place to start, especially when unfamiliar with old legal terms, or the breadth of the subject matter. Special Collections ; KD51 .L4.
Milsom, S.F.C. Historical Foundations of the Common Law. 2nd ed. London: Butterworths, 1981.
Stacks INTL ; KD671 .M54 1981.
Oldham, James. English Common Law in the Age of Mansfield. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
Stacks INTL ; KD612 .O44 2004.
Oldham, James. The Mansfield Manuscript and the Growth of English Law in the Eighteenth Century. 2 vols. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.
Stacks INTL ; KD358.M33 O35 1992.
Plucknett, T.F.T. A Concise History of the Common Law. 5th ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1956.
Stacks INTL ; KD532 .P55 1956.
Plucknett, T.F.T. A Concise History of the Common Law. Hein Online Version.
Pollock, F. and F.W. Maitland. The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I. 2nd ed. 2 vols. London: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
Stacks INTL ; KD532 .P6 1968.
Pollock, F. and F.W. Maitland. The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I. Hein Online Version.
Ross, Charles Stanley. Elizabethan Literature and the Law of Fraudulent Conveyance: Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate Pub. Co., 2003.
Stacks ; PR428.L37 R67 2003.
Sandberg, Russell. A historical introduction to English law : genesis of the common law. Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Stacks INTL ; KD606 .S26 2023.
Winfield, P.H. The Chief Sources of English Legal History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925.
Stacks INTL ; KD392 .W5 1997r.
Winfield, P.H. The Chief Sources of English Legal History. Hein Online Version.

English Legal History Research Guide

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English Secondary Sources