Legal History   Tags: history, law  

• Use "Containing" and "Any Field" for a google-like search.
• Use "Starting With" and "Author" or" Title" to search for a known item.
• If you are not sure of the "Subject" - which works like a yellow pages heading in the phone book - try "Any Field" and look for the "Subject" assigned to a book that is on your topic, and click on that term to find more books with that heading.

Depending on what you are looking for - in terms of format, e.g. book or film, as well as for a subject - there are different places and techniques that are most likely to get good, fast results for your research topic. Most of the time, there is no 'one perfect place' - not even Google! This guide has pages that give some pointers on how to find books, articles and films.

For different subjects, in addition to books that you may find in the library catalogue, there are article databases that focus on specific topics or areas of the world. Many of these are listed on the different pages in this guide and in other, related guides. If you have trouble figuring out which sources are best for your topic, please ask us for help!

The history of the jurisdiction you are researching will be a research area for you as well as legal materials from that area. Be sure to check the History databases listed here as well as the legal ones. We have many resources for Canadian and British legal history, and separate pages for those resources.

Useful subject searches: 

Law - Canada - Bibliography
Law - Canada - History and criticism
Law - History
Constitutional History

These subject terms work with other countries/jurisdictions as well.

History about the legal status of a group can be used by searching the name of the group and the term "Legal status, laws, etc., followed by the name of the country or jurisdiction, and the word history   e.g.,  Women - Legal status, laws, etc. - Canada - History

Remember that in the library catalogue, 'Subject Headings" are like the headings in the yellow pages of the phonebook or "Find More Like This" - they pull all of the books on a topic together for you.