Primary Sources

This collection contains a wide variety of U.S. Congressional materials, including hearings, documents, reports, and committee prints dating from 1789 to the present. It provides access to indexing and some full-text content for Congressional Committee Prints, House and Senate Documents and Reports (Congressional Serial Set), Legislative Histories, member and committee information, political news, the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, the Congressional Record, Statutes at Large, and Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations. Browse nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports for pro/con positions, overviews, statistics, and analysis.

The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 is a comprehensive online collection that provides access to a vast array of documents from the U.S. Supreme Court, covering 140 years of pivotal legal cases. This resource includes records and briefs submitted by leading legal practitioners, many of whom later became judges and justices themselves. The collection features transcripts, applications for review, motions, petitions, and other official documents related to landmark cases that have shaped American law and society. It serves as an essential tool for students, researchers, and practicing attorneys interested in American legal history, constitutional law, civil rights, and government. With full-text search capabilities, users can explore significant cases such as "Dred Scott v. Sandford" and "New York Times Co. v. United States," making it a critical resource for understanding the evolution of modern law.

The Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources, 1600-1970 is a comprehensive digital collection that provides access to a wide range of legal materials from various jurisdictions, focusing on the development of law and legal thought from the early modern period to the late 20th century. This resource includes significant primary sources such as legal codes, statutes, and treatises from countries around the world, including Europe, Latin America, and Asia. It aims to support the study of international and comparative law by offering valuable insights into the legal traditions and practices that have shaped modern legal systems. The collection is essential for researchers, historians, and legal scholars interested in exploring the evolution of law across different cultures and time periods.

This collection features books that compare more than one legal system, with close inspections of common law and civil law systems as well as Talmudic, Islamic, and indigenous legal systems. The archive also includes Roman and canon law in various languages. Works cover a vast array of legal fields, including civil, commercial, constitutional, contract, criminal, and tort law, as well as issues in jurisprudence and procedure and legal diplomacy. Materials are drawn from the Yale Law Library, the George Washington University Law Library, and the Columbia Law Library.

Sourced from the world's foremost law libraries, this archive covers nearly every aspect of American and British law and encompasses a broad array of the analytical, theoretical, and practical literature for research in U.S. and British legal history. It features casebooks, local practice manuals, form books, works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters, speeches, and other works from the most influential writers and legal thinkers of the time. Titles in the collection address topics such as: administration of justice and administrative law, agriculture, bankruptcy, biography, business law, commercial law, communications, regulated utilities and trades and crafts, constitutional law, contracts, copyright, family law, intellectual law, international law, jurisprudence, labor and social welfare, legal education, legal history, legal profession, legislature, local government, civil service, and judicial assistance, maritime law, medical jurisprudence, military justice, national defense, natural resources, politics and government, probate or notariat, obligations, practice and private law, procedural law, public law, education, health and land use planning, public property, real property, reference works and bibliographies, religion, taxation and public finance, torts, transportation, trials, and trusts and estate.

The Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926 is the world's most comprehensive digital collection of documents related to Anglo-American trials. This extensive archive includes over 7,000 titles featuring both officially published and unofficially printed accounts of trials from English-speaking jurisdictions such as the United States, Britain, Ireland, and Canada, as well as English-language materials from other countries like France. Users can access trial transcripts, briefs, arguments, and records of legislative and administrative proceedings. This resource is invaluable for researchers in legal history, sociology, and cultural studies, providing insights into significant trials that shaped societal norms and legal precedents. Notable cases include the Dred Scott case and the Scopes "monkey" trial, making this collection essential for understanding the evolution of law and its impact on society.