This fully-searchable digital collection includes unofficially published accounts of trials; official trial documents, briefs, and arguments; and official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings, and arbitration sessions.
Covers sensational trials but also provides insights into the daily lives of every day people and topics around sex, gender, marriage and divorce
Although early law reports are of most interest to legal historians, many cases from the 19th century and before are still cited today
The oldest available law reports cover the period c.1272 (the early years of Edward I's reign) to 1535. They are written in legal French or Latin and were produced anonymously. There are two modern editions of the Yearbooks: the Rolls Series (Edward I and III) (Old Library) and the Publications of the Selden Society (1307-1321) (Law Library, ground floor). Both series include the original text with English translations. An index created by David Seipp, a law professor at Boston University, is available for all printed Year Books from 1268-1535. The database provides extensive details and a sophisticated search form.
When compilation of the Year Books ceased, private reports began to appear, usually named after the reporter. The standards of these reports vary widely, partly because of the ability of the reporter, partly because of unreliable translations from French and Latin manuscripts.
Many of the cases reported between 1535 and 1865 are reprinted in the English reports (E.R. or Eng.Rep) which are arranged according to the courts in which they were heard.
These are sometimes called "nominate" reports, as they are normally referred to by the abbreviated name of the reporter
e.g. Co.Rep.(Coke's King's Bench Reports) These appear in vol. 76-77 of the English reports.
The Revised Reports (R.R.) cover the period 1785-1866 in 152 volumes and duplicate much of the material in the English Reports. All England Law Reports Reprint contains selected cases from the period 1558-1935.
The English Reports (1220-1873) and the publications of the Selden Society are available online via the HeinOnline database. The full text of the English Reports is also freely available on the website of CommonLII (the Commonwealth Legal Information Institute). Reports are browsable by year or by alphabetical sequence.
To find the English Reports on Westlaw use the Cases tab and enter the party names or citation in the search box. The results can either be read on screen or downloaded as a facsimile of the printed page (click on PDF of Case Report at the top of the results screen.) The same function is provided by Lexis.
Over 800 older cases have also been added to the BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute) site as part of the Open Law project. Search by date or by case name.
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 is a valuable record of London’s Central Criminal Court. The searchable archive contains details of nearly 200,000 criminal trials.
Piracy Trials is a digital collection providing the full text of 57 books from the Library of Congress on the subject of piracy. The books were published between 1696 and 1905 in several languages and contain accounts of acts of piracy, trials and executions.
University of Exeter LibGuide is licensed under CC BY 4.0
