Company law: Books

Encyclopedic approach

 To learn the current state of English law on any particular subject from print sources, there is

            Halsbury’s Laws of England shelved on Level 2 (the entrance level to the Law Library) at the shelf mark KZ 1.  Halsbury's is an encyclopedic treatment of English & Welsh laws: the natural first point of reference for the busy practitioner requiring cold start research on an area or a reliable recap with pointers to essential legislation and leading cases.  You will find corporate law & finances is spread across more than one main volume of Halsbury's - and you must also use the service volumes which keep track of legal developments since the publication of the main volumes.  Holders of an Oxford Single Sign On are reminded that they have online access to all the Halsbury services as part of Lexis +UK

Ebooks

Standard searches in SOLO will find ebooks as well as books (where available), but holders of an Oxford SSO are advised to separately log in and check the practitioners' texts held in Westlaw Books & Lexis + UK's Books as an independent exercise..

Print collection

If you are studying English company law & finance most of your reading will be shelved on Level 2 the entrance level to the Law Bod.

Looking for a Reading List title?

When you search SOLO for books on your Reading List you may find that the location is shown as Law Library Reserve Collection.  These books are on Level 2, but needed to asked for at the Law Enquiry Desk. Please bring your University or Bodleian Reader's Card with you.
Note The books in the Law Reserve collection are available to all categories of readers, not just those on the particular course.

The first example below is in the Reserve Collection, the second is on open shelf on Level 2.

The books on English law on Level 2 are classified according to the Moys system. This is a breakdown of the principal Moys shelf marks for this topic.

KN255 Corporate governance (general works)

KN260 Business associations 

KN261 Company/Corporation Law      
            KN261.2 Company accounts
            KN261.5 Companies inspection and investigation

KN262 Incorporation 
                    KN262.1 Mergers, takeovers
                    KN262.22 Franchises

KN263 Capital
           KN263.5 Shares
           KN263.7 Shareholders

KN264 Directors & other officers

KN265 Special kinds of companies (eg private/family etc)

KN266 Competition law
                       KN266.1Monopolies

KN304 Investments, capital markets, securities 

KN312 Insolvency      

Moys divides law into public law or private law, so if you are interested in Corporate Criminal Liability you need to go to KM540.4

The Bodleian Law Library's current book collection is shelved over 3 floors, all accessible to readers by both stairs and the lift.

Level 2 (the entrance level)

Australian, Canadian, Irish, NZ, Scottish and USA books are included in the KM/KN collection. The third line of the shelf mark identifies when the books have moved from focusing on the law of England and Wales with the following codes, A8 for Australia, C1 for Canada, I5 for Ireland, N4 for New Zealand, S3 for Scotland and U4 for United States of America.

Level 3 (one floor above the entrance level)

This has our current collection of books for the nation states of Europe other than those of the British Isles. The shelf marks for these jurisdictions are intuitive eg Italy for Italian law books. Within these collections the books are not grouped by subject, but arranged by the author/editor's name.

Level 1 (one floor below the entrance level)

Here you will find books for jurisdictions not already mentioned - for example China, India, South Africa. Within these collections the books are not grouped by subject, but arranged by the author/editor's name.

There may also be a Law Bod guide which can help you find sources and commentary generally for the foreign jurisdiction

You can find our curent collection of European Union law books on Level 3, one floor above the entrance level to the Law Library. Their shelf marks begin Euro Comm. (As it was the European Commission when the collection was started.)

There is no subject arrangement within in this collection: the books are arranged alphabetically by the last neme of author or editor.

Older, superseded editions are available for readers to consult on on the Ground Floor. There are stairs and a lift between all floors. SOLO records that they have been moved to this secondary collection  on the Ground Floor by adding (sec coll) to the end of the shelf mark.

On Level 2, the level at which you enter the Law Library, an area of the open shelf collection has books with shelf marks beginning General. 
This is where you will find comparative studies, and works surveying the response to legal problems in two or more jurisdictions. 

If all the countries being compared are (or were) members of the Commonwealth (the voluntary association of 54 independent and equal countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific) the book should have a shelf mark beginning Cw Gen. This collection is also on Level 2, but separate from General.

Please ask at the Enquiry Desk on Level 2 if you are having difficulty finding your way round our collection.

On Level 2, the level at which you enter the Law Library, an area of the open shelf collection has books with shelf marks beginning Jurisp (short for jurisprudence) where we shelve books on legal philosophy and theory. Within this section the books are arranged by the last name of author or editor.

As the Law Library moves to the Moys Classification Scheme, you may find legal philosophy books with shelf marks beginning KA .
KA titles are probably described on SOLO as being in the Law Reserve Collection. Please ask for these books at the Law Enquiry Desk - and remember to bring your University or Bodleian Reader's card with you, as these heavily used titles are issued to you for use in the Library. You can keep reading them for the rest of day if you like - but we do ask that you return them to the Enquiry Desk as soon as possible after you have finished consulting them. 
KA books not held in the Law Reserve collection are on Level 2 - but a few shelves away from those with shelf marks beginning Jurisp.

The Enquiry Desk is also on Level 2 - please come and ask if you are having any difficulties finding the books you need.