Legal History Resources Online
The history of Melbourne's legal profession, and online resource.
Legal History Resources Online aims to facilitate access to legal history resources held in University of Melbourne collections. These include the Law Rare Book Collection, the University of Melbourne Archives and Special Collections.
The University of Melbourne Archives holds an extensive and wide range of law-related records, one of the largest collecting areas, totalling over 1200 metres. Collections include many from Victorian legal firms, individual lawyers and judges, professional bodies, and records from the University's own Faculty of Law and from Faculty academics.
The Law Rare Book Collection consists of over 1000 rare and early legal texts. Many of these date back to the founding of the Law School in 1857, and donations from the libraries of Sir Redmond Barry (a founder and first Chancellor of the University), Sir William Hearn (first Dean of Law), Sir Isaac Isaacs, Sir Owen Dixon and other significant legal figures form the heart of the collection.
You can go directly to one of the collections or enter the site via a number of 'themes'. The themes chosen represent particular strengths in one or more of the collections, but the items shown are just a sample of each collection's holdings. Further themes will gradually be added to the site.
The Legal History Resources Online project was funded by the Victoria Law Foundation.
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Law in Early Victoria
Legal History Resources Online aims to facilitate access to legal history resources held in University of Melbourne collections.
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Law Firms
The University of Melbourne Archives holds records from 20 Victorian law firms.
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Law at the University of Melbourne
Both the Law Library and the University of Melbourne Archives hold materials relating to the history of legal teaching at the University of Melbourne.
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Law Reports and Trials
The Law Rare Book Collection includes the trials of Charles I, the Cato Street conspirators, Andrew Johnson and the Tichborne Claimant, as well as an extensive collection of law reports.
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Federation
The Law Library holds five large volumes of material relating to Australian Federation and the early years of the Commonwealth.
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Collections and Links
Links to the Law Rare Book Collection, The University of Melbourne Archives and many Legal History resources and archives.
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Judges, Lawyers and Professional Bodies
These collections are the archival records of prominent Victorian judges and lawyers held in the University of Melbourne Archives and available for research.