The British Library has a wealth of material to support your research on law. You'll find legislation, cases and traditional legal commentary. You can also explore diverse perspectives on law. You will find these in the literature of varied academic disciplines and in resources from oral history recordings to industry news.

Collection guides

Help

Desks, shelving and Readers in the Social Sciences Reading Room at the British Library

Social Sciences Reading Room

You’ll need a Reader Pass to:

  • View our extensive open access collection material
  • Access online databases and electronic books and journals
  • Use our catalogues to order items from our extensive reference collection

If you need help, please ask our specialists at the enquiry desk.

We offer a range of free Reader sessions and 1-2-1 consultations to help you make the best use of the Library's collections.

Mon: 10.00 – 20.00
Tue – Thu: 09.30 – 20.00
Fri – Sat: 09.30 – 17.00
Sun & English Public Holidays: closed

Opening hours for all Reading Rooms

For enquiries, please contact the Social Science Reference Team.

Blog posts

The Law Code of Alfonso X

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Alfonso X, King of Castile, Leon and Galicia from 1252 and 1284, was so renowned for his interest in books and scholarship that he was nicknamed ‘El Sabio’ (the Wise or Learned). He promoted and consolidated Spanish language in the...

Ten Things I wish I knew about Intellectual Property when I was younger

Monday, April 25, 2022

Every generation of young people wants to change the world. And they do, in some way. Right now in someone’s studio flat, or halls of residence or on a gap year adventure is the next founder of a tech giant,...

Uncovering Free Ports in the Colonial Caribbean

Monday, January 10, 2022

R. Grant Kleiser is a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University, New York City, and was a 2021 Eccles Centre Visiting Fellow at the British Library. During my time as an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellow at the British Library, I was...

Reflecting on activism and protest around the Disability Discrimination Act

Thursday, December 2, 2021

To highlight disability stories for Disability History Month, curator Eleanor Dickens presents collection items linked to protest around the Disability Discrimination Act alongside commentary from a member of the British Library’s Disability Support Network.

More blog posts

Projects

Photograph of the Royal Courts of Justice. Image courtesy of James Petts, Wikipedia Commons

National Life Stories: Legal Lives

In-depth interviews with people involved in the legal and criminal justice system

All projects

Case studies

Dvora Liberman
…To create an archive which will be part of the Library is really a privilege…

Dvora is a collaborative PhD student exploring the social world of Crown Court clerks from the 1970s onwards.

Toby Austin Locke
…The range of materials available allows me to examine how ideas have unfolded…

Toby Austin Locke explains how he uses government publications.

External links

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Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

The national research library for law

Socio-Legal Studies Association

Where law meets the social sciences and humanities