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Constitutions, constitutional & administrative law: Home

Purpose of this guide

This guide is intended for students and researchers studying constitutional & administrative law at the University of Oxford, although students and researchers from any field may find it useful.

Use this guide to find out about sources for the full text of constitutions and commentary for constitutional  & administrative law, including ebooks, ejournals, and databases.

Constitutions & constitutional law: quick start

For more guidance please see see other pages in the guide, accessible via the Tabs above. For those with a special interest in Administrative Law there is a separate section in this guide.

Printed resources

As constitutional law is a compulsory topic for undergrads at Oxford, some of the books on Reading Lists are kept in the Law Reserve Collection - just ask a member of staff at the Enquiry Desk on Level 2 in the main Reading Room.

But there are a lot more books about the constitution  on open shelf on Level 2 - in the KM  section in particular, but some on the legal system in  KL may also be useful.

Constitutional theory will be on Level 2 with shelf marks beginning either Jurisp or KA 

Please visit the Books page in this guide for more detailed guidance.

Please note: the Bodleian Law Library is a reference only collection: there is no borrowing.

Browsing the library's print collections can help you find relevant resources as the books are shelved in subject order, so you'll find related books shelved together.

The arrangement of constitutional law books for England is arranged by subject matter as follows. This collection is on Level 2, the entrance level to the Law Library.

KM1 Public law (general works, which may includes chapters on constitutional, administrative, criminal, and tax law) 
KM31     Constitutional Law - general overviews 
KM33    Constitutional Principles
KM35    Separation of Powers
KM36    Judicial Review (general and constitutional) for Judicial Review of Administrative action see KM306
KM38    Constitutional Conventions
KM42    Parliamentary Government
KM51    Unwritten Constitutions
KM53    Amendments
KM58     Church & State For Freedom of religion/conscience see KM206
KM82    Legislatures, legislative power
KM83    Legislators
KM84    Parliamentary Procedure
KM85    Parliamentary Privileges
KM111    Executive Power
KM112    Heads of State
KM114    Executive Prerogatives
KM141    Judiciary - constitutional status and powers
KM176    Migration
KM201    Civil rights, human rights
KM203    Habeas Corpus
KM204    Freedom of Speech & Expression
KM205    Freedom of Assembly
KM206    Freedom of religion/conscience
KM207    Freedom of the Press
KM208   Equal opportunities, discrimination, minorities
This is further by discrimination of either person or place eg 
KM208.2    Sex discrimination
KM208.43    Racial Discrimination
KM208.431    Indigenous Peoples
KM208.432    Treaty Rights
KM209    
KM209.A2    Academic Freedom
KM209.C6    Right to Counsel
KM209.I6    Freedom of Information
KM209.P7    Right of privacy
KM233    National Security
KM235    Government Departments
KM238    Committees of Enquiry, Royal Commissions

Books on English & Welsh/UK law are shelved first within each category.
Then works on the treatment of the law by other common law jurisdictions follow, country by country. The third line of the shelf mark indicates which foreign jurisdiction the book is about, using the following codes - A8 Australia, C1 Canada, Ireland I5, N4 New Zealand, S3 Scotland, U4 United States.

If you are looking for works on the administrative law in other jurisdictions these will be shelved in the respective country collections: European countries are on Level 3, remaining jurisdictions on Level 1.

The European Union collection is on Level 3.

Purely theoretical works will probably have shelf marks beginning Jurisp (short for Jurisprudence or legal philosophy).
Comparative studies will have shelf marks beginning either General or Cw Gen. 
All three collections are on Floor 2. All are arranged alphabetically by author/editor and are not arranged according to topic.

Depending on your focus of study, it is very possible that SOLO searches will reveal useful titles in other Bodleian libraries - not just our nearest neighbour, the SSL.

Use the links to the library websites below check their opening hours etc. There are also a couple of Bodleian guides written by subject librarians for more guidance.

Related Bodleian guides

Key library