 | A survey of research materials in Virginia libraries, 1936-37 |  |
Section G. Law.
The most extensive law collections in Virginia are at the
State Law Library in Richmond, numbering approximately 45,000
volumes, and at the Law Library of the University of Virginia,
The State Law Library is administered as a department of
the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. It is a general library
with no particular emphasis on special fields. The collection
of reports for the Supreme Court of the United States, for the
Circuit and District Courts of the United States, for the
regional groups of the states, and for the individual states is
fairly complete. The sets of the session laws of the United
States and of the individual states are complete for about a
hundred years; and there are the majority of the official codes,
digests, and statutes. Of legal texts and treatises there are
approximately 3,000 volumes; and the library receives twenty-six
legal periodicals. THe reports of attorneys-general and of
bar associations cover the federal and the Virginia publications
in both cases. In foreign law the emphasis is on English
material. There is a selection of famous trials of former years
and several histories of law.
The Law Library at the University of Virginia is also
general in content. The reports of the Supreme Court and of the
Circuit and District Courts of the United States, of the seven
or eight regional groups of states, and of the individual states
are full, numbering 4,806 volumes. Of the session laws, codes,
and digests of statutes there are 200 volumes for the United
States and 845 volumes of statutes for the separate states.
There are 485 briefs of the United States Supreme Court. The
legal texts and treatises number 3,450, and there are received
about 100 legal periodicals, the bound volumes numbering 1,673.
The material on foreign law is notably strong, the majority of
the 4,368 volumes being in the John Bassett Moore collection of
works on international law. Another special collection, in memory
of Raleigh C. Minor, has enriched the collection with quasilegal
materials, which amount to 1,227 volumes, and include legal
anecdotes, records of famous trials, histories of law, and legal
fiction.
The library of the T. C. Williams School of Law at the
University of Richmond contains approximately 15,000 volumes.
The sets of law reports are extensive, and the session laws and
codes of Virginia are complete. The collection of legal briefs
and treatises is full, numbering about 4,000; and over twenty
legal periodicals are received. There are full sets of the
American and of the Virginia Bar Associations, and considerable
material on English law.
There is a total of 11,250 volumes in the law library at
the College of William and Mary. The emphasis in this collection
is on constitutional law. Of law reports, national and state,
there is a total of 5,534 volumes; and of statutes, codes, and
digests there are 1,310 volumes. At the time this survey was
The more important of the legal periodicals are currently received.
As in the other law collections in this state, the
Virginia items tend to be most numerous; and there are sixty-eight
volumes of the reports of the Virginia Attorney-General
and ninety-two volumes of reports from the Virginia Bar Association.
As in the other collections also, the majority of the
works on foreign law deal with England, there being in this case
a total of 1,476 volumes. Of the quasi-legal materials there
are about 250 volumes.
There is a fifth effective collection in the law library
of Washington and Lee University. This contains the reports of
the United States Supreme Court, of the lower federal courts, and
of the large majority of the state courts of last resort. The
collection of codes and digests is also fairly full. There are
complete files of twenty-four legal periodicals, and incomplete
files of twenty others. Of foreign law there is a considerable
amount, mostly dealing with the British Isles and with Canada.
| A survey of research materials in Virginia libraries, 1936-37 | |