Oxford LibGuides: United Kingdom Law: Home

Introduction to the main collection

Picture of the main reading room in the Bodleian Law Library The UK hard copy collection in the Bodleian Law Library is mostly situated on the main floor of the library. Law reports are at Cw UK 100, and journals at Cw UK 300. UK legal monographs are catalogued using different classmarks which allows for easier browsing, this section starts at K through to KZ before the main run of law reports and journals. Hard copy legislation can be found on Floor 1.

There is a multi-volume encyclopaedia which covers the law of England and Wales called Halsbury's Laws of England which is a great place to start your research and this can be found at K1 or it is available online on Lexis®Library. Alternatively you can search SOLO for other resources.

There is no one database that contains all UK legal material but the 2 main databases are Westlaw Edge UK and LexisLibrary OU members can access both using their Oxford Single Sign On details. For information on these, and for a list of other useful electronic resources (including free resources) then see the database section in the left hand column or look at the specific tab above for specific types of material.

UK Jurisdictions

This guide is mainly concerned with law which applies in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Those elements which are United Kingdom law will apply also to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Depending on your research focus you might find the guides below useful.

Northern Ireland : legal resources
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated May 31, 2023 245 views this year
Scotland: legal resources
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated May 31, 2023 593 views this year

Main UK legal databases

There are a number of major legal databases that cover UK law. See below for a list of the main databases or see the Legal databases tab for more information and links to online tutorials.

Lexis+ UK
This resource requires you to log in with your Oxford SSO again at the homepage.
Alternative names:Lexis ; LexisLibrary ; Lexis Library ; Lexis International

Lexis+ includes extensive primary and secondary legal materials from the UK, EU, USA and many other jurisdictions. It is the only online source for the full text of the All England Law Reports and Halsbury’s Laws. International content can be accessed by following the “International” link on the home page. UK legal news and newspapers are also included
Westlaw Edge UK
Alternative name: West Law UK ; Westlaw UK

Westlaw is provided through a generous donation by Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP
Westlaw is a large database of UK, US and international legal materials including cases, legislation and journal articles.
Coverage:
•UK statutes, statutory instruments and law reports
•England and Wales law reports
•US federal and state legislation and law reports
•Australian federal and state legislation and law reports
•Canadian federal and state legislation and law reports
•Hong Kong SAR law reports and laws
•European Union legislation and law reports
•UK and US law journals and texts
•Common Law Library and over 200 books published by Sweet & Maxwell (Thomson Reuters)
Because of licencing restrictions this database is not available to "Walk-in" users of the library.
Westlaw books
A searchable database of over 300 books published by Sweet & Maxwell (Thomson Reuters)
vLex Justis
Sponsorship: The Bodleian Law Library’s subscription is generously supported by Hogan Lovells. ## This resource requires you to log in with your Oxford SSO again at the homepage.
vLex Justis offers access to a range of law reports, transcripts and legislation from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Caribbean, and the EU. For UK case research it has extensive information relating to where cases have been cited, etc including a precedent map.

In addition it includes the full text of the following: Aspinall's Maritime Law Cases, English Reports, State Trials, CCH Tax Cases, Immigration Appeal Reports, Inquest Law Reports, Mental Health Reports, Session Cases Archive, Irish Reports & Digest, Jersey Law Reports, Bermuda Law Reports, Cayman Islands Law Reports, The Singapore Law Reports, and the International Law Reports. Also included in the service is Justis Human Rights.

To access personalisation features please set up an individual profile on the platform using a unique id and password.

Please note that apart from the titles listed above, vLex Justis includes some abstracted materials for which you will need to refer to other online services or hard copy to obtain the full text.

vLex Justis includes content formerly available via JustisOne.
HeinOnline
Alternative names: Hein Online ; HOL

HeinOnline includes five major collections:
The Law Journal Library includes over 500 U.S., U.K., Australian and International Law Journals. For most journals the date coverage starts very early (in many cases at the first issue). However the most recent editions (within the last calendar year) are sometime unavailable due to licensing restrictions. HeinOnline makes these journals available on a rolling yearly basis.
The Treaties and Agreements Library includes all U.S. treaties and agreements including those in force, expired or yet to be published.
The U.S. Supreme Court Library includes all U.S. Supreme Court opinions as published in the U.S. Reports
The Federal Register 1936-1995, and indexes to the register.
Legal Classics Library. Full text of over 100 legal texts including Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Cardozo's Growth of the Law (1924), and Story's first edition of Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833). Provincial Statutes of Canada includes Provincial Statutes for ten of the Canadian provinces. Contains public and private acts passed by Canadian provincial governments. Current, revised, and historical content is now available for Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. Historical and revised content only is available for Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
All content consists of scanned images of the original printed editions. This allows you to view the content as it originally appeared in print complete with page numbers and pictures.
To save or print articles from HeinOnline choose PRINT OPTIONS followed by DOWNLOAD AS PDF. You will then be able to print out and/or save articles using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
BAILII
Alternative names: British and Irish Legal Information Institute ; British & Irish Legal Information Institute

Free access to British and Irish judgments. General coverage starts mid 1990s, though earlier key judgments are also included. Bailii also includes a subject arrangement of judgments. The judgments are transcripts and do not include arguments of counsel or headnotes. For a wider selection of Law Reports please see Justis, Lexis or Westlaw.

Legislation.gov.uk
Official site Use the drop down menu TYPE to limit search to public general acts or statutory instruments or browse by year etc. Excellent for original, historic version (text of act as originally promulgated) and Explanatory Notes for more recent legislation. Pay attention to the current status which is given for each act. More has further details of coverage
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All primary legislation from 1988
All secondary legislation from 1987, including UK Statutory Instruments, Scottish Statutory Instruments and Northern Ireland Statutory Rules. In addition we hold a selection of secondary legislation from 1948-1986, and selected pre-1948 Statutory Rules and Orders
Legislation originating from the EU as set out in Schedule 5 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) along with corrigenda (correction slips for EU legislation) and EU Directives published up to the end of the EU Exit Implementation Period at 11:00 p.m. on 31 December 2020 ("IP completion day").
Most types of primary legislation (e.g. Acts, Measures, N.I. Orders in Council) are held in 'revised' form, as well as selected secondary legislation, and legislation originating from the EU:

Public General Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament (1801 to date)
Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain (1707 – 1800)
Acts of the English Parliament (1267 – 1706)
Acts of the Old Scottish Parliament (1424 – 1707)
Acts of the Scottish Parliament (1999 to date)
Acts of Senedd Cyrmu (2020 to date)
Acts of the National Assembly for Wales (2012 to 2020)
Measures of the National Assembly for Wales (2008 – 2011)
Acts of the Irish Parliament (1495 – 1800)
Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921 – 1972)
Measures of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1974)
Orders in Council made under the Northern Ireland Acts (1972 to date) (effectively the primary legislation for Northern Ireland under direct rule, though in the form of Statutory Instruments)
Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly (2000 – 2002 and 2007 to date)
Church of England Measures (1920 to date)
UK Statutory Instruments (2018 to date)
Scottish Statutory Instruments (2018 to date)
Welsh Statutory Instruments (2018 to date)
Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland (2018 to date)
European Regulations (1958 to 31 December 2020)
European Decisions (1953 to 31 December 2020)
European Directives (1959 to 31 December 2020)