There rarely was, if ever, any court transcripts of trials available in the 17th and 18th centuries, mostly for technological reasons. Researchers must rely on reports of trials in newspapers, in the pulp press, and in individual publications. As technology, first with shorthand, and later with recordings and tapings, made reporting of trials more accurate, collections of trials appear, as well as regular publication of criminal court proceedings. Many of these are now available online in databases, but some are still only available in print. Listed here are examples of individual trials and some collections that are good sources.
Below are listed some of the collections of trials that have been printed to either focus on famous trials, or gather materials on trials unavailable in the English Reports.
Check under individual defendant's names in the Library's catalog for individual trials availability. Just a few are listed here. Many of these individual trials have been microfilmed, and digitized, available in the database The Making of Modern Law.