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..
The Law Library's collection is fully catalogued on SOLO, Oxford University's online resource discovery tool. For those wishing to learn more about using searches, we recommend the following:
The Law Bod's collection is shelved over four floors. An interest in Pacific Island law may well see you visiting at least three! All the floors are connected by both stairs and a lift. Please feel free to ask a member of staff for directions when you visit the Law Bod, but the following is designed to give you a basic understanding.
The Law Bod shelves its collections of printed materials for individual Pacific Island nations on Level One, one floor below the entrance level. The arrangement is alphabetical, by the English name of the jurisdiction. If the country is a member of the Commonwealth (the voluntary association of 54 independent and equal countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific) there will be a Cw at the beginning of the shelf mark, but this does not affect its position in the alphabetical arrangement. There is no further subject arrangement within each jurisdiction's collection, the books are arranged by the last name of the author or editor.
Depth of coverage varies considerably: you may well discover that for some countries the collection has an historic rather than a current emphasis. You may well find that there is more recent commentary about your jurisdiction between the covers of a comparative study or work on international law. For more help with these please click on the relevant tabs in this box.
Grassroots Law in Papua New Guinea by 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.
Sometimes the comparison will be between or among other African states, sometimes between one or more African states and another jurisdiction elsewhere in the world.
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.
Note SOLO records have more than one geographic term for this area. So probably best to check search results using all three in turn!
Islands of the Pacific
Pacific Area
Oceania
Introduction to South Pacific Law by 
Courts and Civil Procedure in the South Pacific by Below are examples of titles shelved in the General section of Level 2
Competition Law in Asia-Pacific by 
Minority Rights in the Pacific Region by 
Weaving Intellectual Property Policy in Small Island Developing States by The principal collection of legal philosophy/jurisprudence books are shelved 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. 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 Rahui: Legal pluralism in Polynesian traditional management of resources and territories by On Level 3, one floor above the entrance level to the Law Library, an area of the open shelf collection has books with shelf marks beginning Internat (short for public international law). These books are further arranged by topic as described below.
Also on Level 3 is an area of the open shelf collection with books with shelf marks beginning Private Int. (This is short for private international law or conflict of laws as it is sometimes called.) In this section books are simply arranged by the last name of the author or editor, not by topic.
Transitional Justice in the Asia-Pacific by 
International Economic Law: the Asia-Pacific perspectives by 
Threatened Island Nations : legal implications of rising seas and a changing climate by 
The Search for Environmental Justice by The public international law collection on Level 3 is subdivided by broad areas of law. The divisions used are listed alphabetically below, with the corresponding shelf mark alongside. Within each shelf mark the books are next arranged by author/editor.
Air law Internat 640
Atomic energy Internat 600
Dependent states and special regimes Internat 535
Economic law Internat 590
European Court of Human Rights: literature Internat 575
General and theory Internat 500
History Internat 510
Human rights Internat 570
International crimes Internat 580
International relations Internat 660
Jurisdiction of states Internat 560
Law of the sea and waterways Internat 630
Nationality Internat 565
Recognition Internat 545
Servitudes Internat 550
Social legislation and organisation Internat 610
Space law Internat 650
State responsibility Internat 555
State succession Internat 540
The state (as a legal entity) Internat 530
Title to territory Internat 520
Transport and communications (except sea, air and space) Internat 620
Treaties (theory etc.) Internat 670
International organisations History and general Internat 680
General and regional political organisations Internat 681
League of Nations: general Internat 685
League of Nations: publications (series) Internat 686
United Nations: general Internat 687
United Nations: publications (series) Internat 688
Peace and disarmament Internat 700
International disputes and arbitration General and theory Internat 710
Individual arbitration tribunals: literature Internat 740
International courts and tribunals: general Internat 720
Permanent Court of Arbitration: literature Internat 730
Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Court of Justice: literature Internat 725
Termination of war (including specific peace treaties) Internat 760
A normal SOLO search will also find ebooks in your area of interest.
Note SOLO records have more than one geographic term for this area. So probably best to check search results using all three in turn!
Islands of the Pacific
Pacific Area
Oceania
Foreign Judges in the Pacific by Open Access titles available to all with access to the internet
Rule of Law, Legitimate Governance and Development in the Pacific by 
Globalisation and Governance in the Pacific Islands State, Society and Governance in Melanesia by The Australian National University Press often publishes OA books for this region. On the advanced search screen link (see below) you can select Law as Discipline and Pacific Islands as Region