Law subject resources

These e-resources can be accessed 24/7.

We have a significant amount of e-books, including essential texts available in the Westlaw and LexisNexis Databases

Key collections

• Box of Broadcasts is an on demand TV and radio service for education. The academically-focused system enables you to record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels, and search an extensive archive. Box of Broadcasts is intuitive and easy to use, so you may find you can start straight away
• Lexis+ is a full-text database containing case law and legislation from the UK, EU, US and some other jurisdictions. Also contains a wide range of local and national UK newspapers. Lexis has a very wide range of UK law reports, and a collection of full text law journals. It also has a large number of full text US Law Reviews.
• SAGE Research Methods is a database which supports research at all levels by providing material to guide users through each step of the research process. From writing your research question and choosing a method, to analysing data, writing up and publishing the findings. Resources include a methods map, books, reference works, journal articles, podcasts and instructional videos from world-leading academics. With information on qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods, Sage Research Methods is the ideal tool to support you through your research in social sciences.
• Scopus is the world’s largest abstract and citation database, containing 24,600 journals from 5,000 publishers. It is excellent for literature reviews or for finding out what has been published in your area as it can locate high quality journal articles, book chapters and more, for any subject.
• Westlaw is a very large database of legal materials from the United Kingdom, European Union, United States and other common law jurisdictions. It contains full-text case law and legislation, full-text journal articles from a limited number of UK law journals, plus some international materials. Multiple UK and EU databases can be searched from the home page or individual databases selected from the content links. Westlaw have appointed a student representative, for help with training, they will be available throughout the academic year. You can find further information under the Westlaw rep tab.

Specialist resources

• Chitty on Contracts covers contracts for every commercial situation including consumer contracts. It offers an interpretation of the legal position, analysis of all the relevant legislation and gives commentary on the relevant case law.
• Family Law Reports contains verbatim case reports of every important Family Division, Court of Appeal, House of Lords and European courts case, and also includes practice directions, covering the whole range of family law, public and private child law. Each case report includes a concise headnote which provides a summary of the case, the issues involved and the points of law raised.
• Law Trove contains more than 200 law textbooks that have been published by Oxford University Press, one of the leading publishers of legal educational materials. Getting started booklet.
• Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts covers international law as applied in the domestic courts of around 70 jurisdictions. The geographical scope is intended to be as broad as possible; ILDC currently reports on countries from every continent in the world. Relevant cases from 2000 to the present for each jurisdiction are included but occasionally ILDC reports on much earlier cases if they are very important for the development of international law jurisprudence in a particular jurisdiction.
• XpertHR offers more than 24,000 articles, along with an employment law reference manual. It also includes material from Lexis Nexis and Butterworth’s. Journals covered include: IRS Employment Trends, Industrial Relations, Legal Information Bulletin and Pay and Benefit Bulletin. It will be of use to students studying employment law. To access off campus, click on the link and choose Edge Hill University from the drop down list. Click on Select. An Edge Hill login screen will appear and you should type in your university credentials.

• Lawbore, City University’s legal gateway for students, has excellent subject summaries with links to relevant resources.

Courts and Legal System

• Curia is the website for the Court of Justice of the European Union.
• EUR-Lex provides free access to European Union law and other documents considered to be public.The contents of the site amount to some 2 815 000 documents with texts dating back to 1951.
• Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Services, the website of the public body that is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales.
• Justice contains resources for legal professionals from the Ministry of Justice..
• Law Commission The Law Commission is the statutory independent body created by the Law Commissions Act 1965 to keep the law of England and Wales under review and to recommend reform where it is needed.
• The Magistrates’ Association site has valuable information about the appointment of magistrates and the role of the magistrates’ court.
• Ministry of Justice is the government department with responsibility for the justice system.
• Scottish Courts and Tribunals contains information about the judicial system in Scotland.

Legal Profession and Careers

• The Bar Council has a useful education and training site for the legal profession in England and Wales.
• Law Careers.Net is a useful site for those looking for training contracts with law firms, pupillages and news of the legal profession.
• The Law Society has a legal education internet site with information about the process of training as a solicitor.
• The Lawyer is the online version of the weekly newspaper.
• Venables Legal Resources by Delia Venables is a very useful source of information about legal advice available via electronic sources.
• The Public Law Project is an independent legal charity which aims to help provide wider access to legal advice.

Law programmes

OSCOLA – The Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities is the referencing system used by the School of Law, Criminology and Policing www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012.pdf

The library also stock several books on Legal Writing , such as Successful legal writing by Higgins and Tatham, Legal Writing by Webley and Letters to a law student: a guide to studying law at university by McBride.