Use the tabs above to understand how the Law Bod's collection is arranged. There is an Enquiry Desk on Level 2, just as you enter the main Reading Room: please do come and have a word if you are having any difficulty in using the library.
Looking for a Reading List title?
When you search SOLO for books on your Oxford Law Faculty Reading List you may find that the location is shown as Law Library Reserve Collection. Books in this collection must be asked for at the Enquiry Desk on Level 2. Please remember to bring your Oxford University Card or your Bodleian Reader's Card when you come to the Desk.
Note. The books in the Reserve Collection are available to all categories of readers, not just those on the particular course.
The Law Library's collection is fully catalogued on SOLO, Oxford University's online resource discovery tool.
For those wishing to learn more about getting the most out of SOLO searches, we recommend the following:
Holders of an Oxford SSO have access to the Max Planck Encyclopedias. These are the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL) and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (MPEIPL) The two can be searched and browsed together, or separately by using appropriate filters. They are regularly updated - in the sense of both existing entries being revised and new entries being added.
The following works are encyclopaedic in scope if not by name!
The first three require an Oxford SSO for remote access.
Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law by Open access resource available to anyone with access to the internet:
In many instances, SOLO searches will direct you to Law Library books with shelf marks beginning Internat These are available on Level 3, one floor above the entrance level to the Law Library.
However, your SOLO searches may also reveal useful titles with shelf marks beginning Jurisp short for jurisprudence (legal philosophy). This collection is available on Level 2, the level at which you enter the Law Library. Within this Jurisp 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 on Level 2 is also the place to come if you are having any difficulties finding the books you need: we will be happy to help!
Philosophy and International Law : a critical introduction by 
International Law As Behavior by 
On Tyranny and the Global Legal Order by 
Negotiating State and Non-State Law: the challenge of global and local legal pluralism by 
Tracing Value Change in the International Legal Order by 
The Many Paths of Change in International Law by 
The Routledge Handbook of International Law and Anthropocentrism by Looking for a Reading List title?
When you search SOLO for books on your Reading List you may find that the shelf mark begins KC and the location is Law Library Reserve Collection. Please bring your University or Bodleian Reader's Card to the Law Enquiry Desk on Level 2, and ask for the titles there. They will be issued to you for use in the Library. You could keep them for the rest of the day - but please return Reserve Collection books to the Enquiry Desk when you have finished with them, or are leaving the Law Library for the day.
Note: Books in the Reserve Collection are available to all categories of readers, not just those on a particular course.
International Law by
The current collection of public international law is shelved on Level 3, one floor above the entrance level. There are both stairs and a public lift to access. There are also study spaces (and a PCAS machine), but readers are free to take the books down to another floor within the library if they would prefer. Readers are not asked to return items to the shelves when finished with, but we would be grateful if they could be put on one of the book trolleys dotted around the library.
The books are arranged according to the following scheme
Internat 500 General and theory
Internat 510 History
Internat 520 Title to territory
Internat 530 The state (as a legal entity)
Internat 535 Dependent states and special regimes
Internat 540 State succession
Internat 545 Recognition
Internat 550 Servitudes
Internat 555 State responsibility
Internat 560 Jurisdiction of states
Internat 565 Nationality
Internat 570 Human rights
Internat 575 European Court of Human Rights: literature
Internat 580 International crimes
Internat 590 Economic law
Internat 600 Atomic energy
Internat 610 Social legislation and organisation
Internat 620 Transport and communications (except sea, air and space)
Internat 630 Law of the sea and waterways
Internat 640 Air law
Internat 650 Space law
Internat 660 International relations
Internat 670 Treaties (theory etc.)
International organisations
Internat 680 History and general
Internat 681 General and regional political organisations
Internat 685 League of Nations: general
Internat 687 United Nations: general
International disputes and arbitration
Internat 700 Peace and disarmament
Internat 710 General and theory
Internat 720 International courts and tribunals: general
Internat 725 Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Court of Justice: literature
Internat 730 Permanent Court of Arbitration: literature
Internat 740 Individual arbitration tribunals: literature
Internat 750 War and armed conflict
Internat 760 Termination of war (including specific peace treaties)
After the end of Internat, there is the private international law collection. These books have shelf marks beginning Private Int. They are not further divided by subject, but arranged alphabetically by last name of author or editor.
If you are interested in diplomatic law, there is a page in this guide which might help.
However, depending on the focus of your research, you may well find that SOLO results are directing you to other parts of the Bodleian, probably our nearest neighbour the Bodleian Social Science Library which is the holder of the Bodleian collections on politics and international relations.