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.