Law & Government
The Papers of John Jay is an image database and indexing tool comprising some 13,000 documents (more than 30,000 page images) scanned chiefly from photocopies of original documents. Most of the source material was assembled by Columbia University's John Jay publication project staff during the 1960s and 1970s under the direction of the late Professor Richard B. Morris. More about the project >> Portrait courtesy of The National Gallery of Art
Henry of Bratton (Henricus de Brattona or Bractona) was an English judge of the court known as coram rege (later King's Bench) from 1247-50 and again from 1253-57. After his retirement in 1257, he continued to serve on judicial commissions. He was also a clergyman, having various benefices, the last of which being the chancellorship of Exeter cathedral, where he was buried in 1268.
Just as programs are sold at sporting events today, broadsides -- styled at the time as "Last Dying Speeches" or "Bloody Murders" -- were sold to the audiences that gathered to witness public executions in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. These ephemeral publications were intended for the middle or lower classes, and most sold for a penny or less. Published in British towns and cities by printers who specialized in this type of street literature, a typical example features an illustration (usually of the criminal, the crime scene, or the execution); an account of the crime and (sometimes) the trial; and the purported confession of the criminal, often cautioning the reader in doggerel verse to avoid the fate awaiting the perpetrator.
Joseph Berry Keenan Digital Collection The Joseph Berry Keenan Digital Collection—comprising manuscript materials and photographs—offers researchers invaluable insight into the Japanese War Crimes Trial—one of the most important trials of the twentieth century. The struggles of World War II did not end after the Japanese and German surrender to the Allied Powers; they merely shifted from land, air and sea battlefields to court rooms around the world. Thousands of defendants would be tried on various charges of conventional – and non-conventional - war crimes. The most famous of these trials were those held in Nuremberg and Tokyo. It was at these two trials, more than at any other, that a new chapter in international law would be written.
About the Collection As part of its holdings of legal art and visual materials , the Harvard Law School Library owns a collection of over 4000 portrait images of lawyers, jurists, political figures, and legal thinkers dating from the Middle Ages to the late twentieth century. Although most of these prints, drawings, and photographs depict legal figures prominent in the Common Law, a significant number portray jurists and legal educators associated with the Canon and Civil Law traditions.
The Harvard Law School Library has approximately one million pages of documents relating to the trial of military and political leaders of Nazi Germany before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) and to the twelve trials of other accused war criminals before the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT).
The documents, which include trial transcripts, briefs, document books, evidence files, and other papers, have been studied by lawyers, scholars, and other researchers in the areas of history, ethics, genocide, and war crimes, and are of particular interest to officials and students of current international tribunals involving war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Related Reading: A complex network of intersecting financial, legal, political, and cultural factors all contributed to the development of the South Sea Bubble, the eventual collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, and the financial ruin left in its wake. The years leading up to the South Sea Bubble were a time of financial promise and enthusiasm for Britain. Following the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), there was the increased potential of foreign trade and the turn toward a more global marketplace. Wealth and luxury were no longer reserved to the aristocracy. Consumerism was on the rise, and class and gender boundaries were increasingly blurred when it came to investing in the stock market.
The Court Rolls of Ramsey, Hepmangrove and Bury, 1268-1600 The court rolls of Ramsey, Hepmangrove and Bury constitute a distinctive collection of primary sources for examining and exploring the lives of ordinary people and the institutions of a rural community in the East Midlands of medieval England from the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They were previously published on microfiche as part of The Court Rolls of Ramsey, Hepmangrove and Bury, 1268-1600 , edited and translated by Edwin DeWindt and originally published by the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (Toronto) in 1990 as vol. 17 of the Subsidia Mediaevalia series (ISBN 0-88844-366-8).
The United States and its Territories, drawn from the University of Michigan Library's Southeast Asia collection, comprises the full text of monographs and government documents published in the United States, Spain, and the Philippines between 1870 and 1925. The primary focus of the material is the Spanish-American war and subsequent American governance (approximately 1898-1910). The text collection is complemented by digitized images from key photograph collections drawn from the Special Collections Library.
Canon Law UCLA's Charles E. Young Research Library is fortunate to have a complete set of the 1582 Corpus Juris Canonici , the "Body of Canon Law." These three volumes contain not only the medieval collections of laws—notably, Gratian's Decretum (ca. 1140), Gregory IX's Liber Extra (1234), and Boniface VIII's Liber Sextus (1298)�but also the elaborate Ordinary Glosses and further commentaries on the laws that take up the vast inner margins, with further annotations on outer margins. These glosses, which are absolutely essential to historians of law, have not been reprinted since the seventeenth century, and copies are scarce.
The Sachsenspiegel or Mirror of the Saxons (1220-35) is a collection of customary laws compiled by Eike von Repgow (1180-1235). Encouraged by his overlord, Hoyer von Falkenstein , from Saxon high nobility, he produced a German version of his own (lost) Latin original. Their purpose was to textualize, and thus to stabilize what up until the 13th century had been a long oral tradition of regional jurisprudence. The Sachsenspiegel is divided into two parts, one concerned with laws regarding the management of fiefs, the Lehnrecht , and the other with more general laws, the Landrecht , or regional law.
FAQ Local and Regional Documents Archive About This Project The Local and Regional Documents Archive is a service of the University of Oregon Libraries. The project seeks to serve the citizens of Oregon and researchers around the world by providing a central repository and archive of significant documents produced by local governments and regional offices of United States federal government agencies within the state. Governments and agencies represented in the database include: Among the types of documents included in the archives are local planning documents, city development codes, sub-area plans, documents required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), land management planning documents, resource management plans, and environmental opinions.
Due to Cornell's longstanding ties with Liberia, specifically through Professor Milton Konvitz's 20 years with the Liberian Law Codification Project and Professor Jane Hammond's work organizing the National Law Library , the Cornell Law Library has an extensive collection of Liberian materials, some of which are unique due to the destruction of the National Liberian Library during the civil war. With the end of hostilities in Liberia and as the country begins the process of rebuilding, scholarly interest in Liberia's past, present, and future has increased.
Here will be preserved all . . . the records that bind State to State and the hearts of all our people in an indissoluble union. --President Herbert Hoover, upon laying the cornerstone of the National Archives Building, February 20, 1933 In 1803 the young republic nearly doubles in size with the Louisiana Purchase. A casualty list of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment reveals the sacrifices of the most celebrated African-American regiment that fought in the Civil War. A police blotter lists the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, April 14, 1865.
Here will be preserved all . . . the records that bind State to State and the hearts of all our people in an indissoluble union. --President Herbert Hoover, upon laying the cornerstone of the National Archives Building, February 20, 1933 American Originals presents some of the most treasured documents in the holdings of the National Archives. They have passed through the hands of George Washington, Helen Keller, Wyatt Earp, Napoleon, Rosa Parks, and John Hancock, connecting us physically to another moment in time. While some of the documents announce their own importance with a grand design, others quietly mark a revolution.
"American Originals" is a changing exhibit that has presented the nation's greatest documentary treasures in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building since December 1995. Over the years, the exhibit has featured the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, the police blotter listing Abraham Lincoln's assassination, the first report of the Titanic's collision with an iceberg, Rosa Parks's arrest records, and many other items. Both famous and rare, these documents provide unique insights into the towering figures and events that have shaped U.S. history.
In 1761, fifteen years before the United States of America burst onto the world stage with the Declaration of Independence, the American colonists were loyal British subjects who celebrated the coronation of their new King, George III. The colonies that stretched from present-day Maine to Georgia were distinctly English in character although they had been settled by Scots, Welsh, Irish, Dutch, Swedes, Finns, Africans, French, Germans, and Swiss, as well as English. As English men and women, the American colonists were heirs to the thirteenth-century English document, the Magna Carta, which established the principles that no one is above the law (not even the King), and that no one can take away certain rights.
The Federal Convention convened in the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787, to revise the Articles of Confederation. Because the delegations from only two states were at first present, the members adjourned from day to day until a quorum of seven states was obtained on May 25. Through discussion and debate it became clear by mid-June that, rather than amend the existing Articles, the Convention would draft an entirely new frame of government. All through the summer, in closed sessions, the delegates debated, and redrafted the articles of the new Constitution.
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers.
During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution. They demanded a "bill of rights" that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens.
Federal Designs: Symbolism Symbols are an important part of America`s design heritage. They establish and reinforce the national identity and patriotism. In some cases, American symbols are based on recognized associations. The ideals of Greek democracy, the power of Imperial Rome, or the refinements of European fashion frequently are reflected in Federal designs. At other times and for other purposes, designers created icons using images unique to this new country, to this new form of government, and to America`s aspirations to world power.
Inside the National Archives Southeast Region 1. Welcome The Southeast Region of the National Archives holds in trust original records documenting the settlement and development of a unique section of the United States. It maintains historical records from regional offices of Federal agencies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. These records are the documentary evidence of day-to-day occurrences that have become part of our history. This presentation highlights treasures in the region's holdings. It tells intriguing stories of the people who once inhabited this land. Some documents are about famous people and events.
Treasures of Congress An exhibit in the National Archives Rotunda, Washington, DC January 21, 2000February 19, 2001 Few institutions have been as central to the course of American history as the U.S. Congress. Most of the great issues in our national life have been played out there, and many of our most memorable political figures have served in the House of Representatives or the Senate. Congress's pivotal position was built into the American system in 1787.
The inital project will see the digitisation of all 36 volumes of Cobbett's Parlimentary History, (a major source for eighteenth century historians), providing online access to it initially as a stand alone database. A further development would see it also forming one element within a group of related databases offering access to a range of parliamentary source materials sharing a common interface.
The Mayors and Sheriffs of London 1190–1558 The database will gradually be expanded to include the years from 1559 to the present. Still later additions may include short biographies of the better-known mayors and sheriffs, and/or references or links to existing biographical sources. Periodic updatings of the database will take place, to incorporate new information. Users are invited to provide additional information and corrections; these will be checked and, if adopted, credited to their contributors. For contact information, see below. Mayor and two aldermen: from Walter Besant, London in the Time of the Tudors (1904). Original MS source not yet identified.
DIGITAL COLLECTIONS About the Law Library The Law Library is a major regional resource for legal information, serving the university community, the practicing bar, and the general public. Its primary mission is to support the curriculum and the research needs of the faculty and the students of the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. However, as part of an historic and distinguished law school whose roots reach deeply into Kentucky legal history, the Law Library has over the years accumulated rich collections of materials of national and state legal publications, many of which date back to the foundation of the American republic. In addition, through the efforts of Louisville native Louis D.
Have you ever wondered what was said when cases were argued before the Idaho Supreme Court? Idaho Supreme Court briefs, transcripts and other documents have been preserved for future research. Beginning in 2010, the digital repository provides a searchable interface for discovery and utilization of appellate court documents. This collection will continue to grow in size and scope. RECORDS AND BRIEFS 1911 THROUGH 2009 Original briefs, transcripts and other documents from Idaho appellate cases are stored in both Boise and Moscow, Idaho. This database identifies the location of those documents. Search for these documents using docket number, litigant name, Idaho Reports citation or Pacific Reporter citation. To view the documents, you will need to travel to Boise or Moscow.
In 1861 Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) became the United States' sixteenth president. But before Lincoln became the nation's chief executive, he led a fascinating life that sheds considerable light upon significant themes in American history. This World Wide Web site presents materials from Lincoln's Illinois years (1830-1861), supplemented by resources from Illinois' early years of statehood (1818-1829). Thus Lincoln/Net provides a record of Lincoln's career, but it also uses his experiences as a lens through which users might explore and analyze his social and political context. How to Use Lincoln/Net: Northern Illinois University Libraries' digitization projects rely upon financial support provided by individual donors, private foundations, and state and federal agencies.
T he ongoing Maryland State Archives publication series, Archives of Maryland Online , currently provides access to over 471,000 historical documents that form the constitutional, legal, legislative, judicial, and administrative basis of Maryland's government. Online access enables users to research such topics as Maryland's constitutions and constitutional conventions' proceedings, session laws, proceedings of the General Assembly, governors' papers, and military records. This project allows the Archives to place into electronic form and preserve for future generations records that are scattered among a number of repositories and that often exist only on rapidly disintegrating paper.