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Legal Biography at the British Library: a Particular Perspective on Resources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2014

Jonathan Sims
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Abstract

Rich personal and institutional archives, antiquarian manuscript collections and published resources make the British Library an obvious choice for biographical research. While these collections include material relating to high ranking legal officials, legislators, renowned legal scholars and their correspondents the article moves beyond this view of legal biographical source materials. Examples of resources from across the Library's diverse collections are presented through a particular perspective on information needs and sources in broadly socio-legal research. In contribution to the theme of methods in legal biographical research this framework is offered, together with signposts to discovery aids as a way of conceptualising the Library's resource. In doing so, various notions of the nature of legal biographical research, its subjects and its source information are considered in this article by Jonathan Sims.

Keywords

biographylegal biographylegal research
Type
Legal Biography
Information
Legal Information Management , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 38 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014. Published by British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 

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References

Footnotes

1 Manuscript and archival material including sound recordings were identified in widely varying quantities for jurists and law teachers, including other Vinerian chairs. Individuals identified in addition to Blackstone and Hale include Robert Chambers, Bentham, Thomas Erskine, Patrick Devlin, Rupert Cross, Andrew Amos, HLA Hart, JR Kenyon, William Jones, Henry Maine, William Alexander Robson, AV Dicey, Frederick Pollock. While the only women law teachers found were Brenda Hale and Vera Baird, both better known for other roles, neither of these lists represent the product of exhaustive searching.

2 Collection mapping refers to a process used to survey the Library's diverse resources with a view to identifying areas of content strengths for legal research. The process uses an analytical framework or template that includes established schemes of legal information resource, an evolving construction of information need, and awareness of availability of content through other channels.

3 Nicholas, DAssessing information needs: tools and techniques for the information age. Aslib, London (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This framework draws on the work of M.B. Line.

4 For examples of the socio-legal literature see Journal of Law and Society (Wiley-Blackwell), Socio-Legal Newsletter (Socio-Legal Studies Asociation), and a forthcoming collection of studies edited by Cowan, D, Mulcahy, L and Wheeler, S for Law and Society (Routledge, Critical Concepts in Law series, forthcoming 2014). The contents of this forthcoming edited collection of existing journal articles can be seen at: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415686914/. See also Twining, Rickman & Knafla in Twining and Varnden Quick (Eds) in Legal records in the commonwealth (Dartmouth Publishing, 1994).

5 Twining's provenance, legislative and special categories tests for the recognition of legal records are set out in Legal records in the commonwealth: a theoretical perspective in Twining and Quick, Varnden (eds) Legal records in the commonwealth (Dartmouth Publishing, 1994)Google ScholarPubMed, p.19 ff. Knafla's “The perspective of the legal historian: legal and socio-legal historical research” is also found in the same work.

6 Knafla, L The perspective of the legal historian: legal and socio-legal historical research in Twining and Varnden Quick (eds) (1994) (above citation) (p230).

7 The general concept can be extended successfully beyond its application to the Library's printed collections by Mandelbrote, G and Taylor, B (2009) Libraries within the library: the origins of the British Library's printed collections. For an introduction to the Library's various collections see for example About Us http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/index.html, accessed 6/12/13] and Sims, J Librarianship in the 21 stCentury: a British Library perspective in Legal Information Management, 8 (2008) pp. 84–91.Google Scholar

8 Resources such as the National Register of Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/default.asp search across the collections of multiple extant repositories including those held by the British Library. EXPLORE http://explore.bl.uk integrates discovery of various British Library collections including printed material, varied digital collections, maps, sound, theses, and others. SOCAM (Search our collections: archives and manuscripts) http://searcharchives.bl.uk integrates discovery of various discrete heritage and developing British Library collections. For further details of British Library catalogues and collection specific guides see the Annex at the end of this article.

9 For example the correspondence and papers of George Cave (Add MS 62455–62516 together with Add Ch 76035–76062) including two volumes of formal photographs made in connection with official duties, provide potential insights into his time as Home Secretary (1916–1919), and Lord Chancellor (1922–1924, 24–28?). The Gerald Gardiner Papers (Add MS 56455 A-56463 B) predominantly concern the abolition of capital punishment.

10 For example correspondence with Richard Haldane Lord Chancellor (1912–1915, 1924) turns up in the papers of Alfred C.W. Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe, newspaper and publishing magnate (Northcliffe Papers and Diaries (62153-62397) and in The journal of Sir A W FitzRoy, Clerk of the Privy Council, (Add MS 48371–48380) 1898–1923. Cornelia Sorabji's diaries and private papers as well as work related reports and correspondence are found in Mss Eur F165, her name is also mentioned in the catalogue records of several other archival/manuscript collections at the British Library.

11 ODNB recognises sources for More among the British Library's Arundel, Cotton, Harley, Royal and Sloane collections, and for Bacon in Additional Manuscripts, Sloane and Lansdowne collections. Papers are also identified by ODNB as being located in various Oxford/Bodleian collections, and among State Papers: Henry VIII. In addition to access at the National Archives, calendared, digitised, and in some circumstances micro filmed sets of State Papers can also be accessed at the British Library. See State Papers Online.

12 Hardwicke papers (MS 35349-36278, 45030-45047), covering the first four Earls of Hardwicke and other members of Yorke families. The series Correspondence includes sub-series for Family, Political and General, while the Papers series is subdivided to include sub-series including Legal papers. The archive also includes papers relating to other legal offices which the family members held.

13 Coleridge Family Papers, (MS 85495-86488).

14 The paper, “Inside the mind of a Victorian Judge: the Coleridge family archive” was presented at The Metropolis on Trial Conference in 2008. Dr Hunt is working on a fuller study of the Coleridge family journals and correspondence.

15 Old Bailey Online http://www.oldbaileyonline.org

16 Hunt (above reference) refers Coleridge's recorded misgivings about capital sentencing and his thoughts on a socio-geographically contextualised consideration of deterrence and proportionality at a point in time (1835) when capital statutes were reportedly being repealed.

17 SOCIETY OF AUTHORS ARCHIVE Reference: Add MS 56575–57264; Creation Date: 1879–1968; THE MACMILLAN ARCHIVE. Add MS 54786–56035 and Add. 61894–61896; Constitution Unit Archive 87373–87451. Archive of the Constitution Unit; 1995–1997.

18 Within the Macmillan Archive, Add MS 55082-55088 cover Legal historians and jurists. The mention of collectivism is found in f.51 of Add MS.55085.

19 Within the Society of Authors Archive series C. LEGAL FILES (Add MS 56899-57001) includes thirteen sub series. Just one of these is the 61 volumes of “Correspondence with Field Roscoe & Co., chiefly with C. D. Medley; Creation Date: 1908–1954. The particular correspondence is identified as ff 7-8 of 250 folio bound in Vol. CCCLXXXV Add MS 56959 covering 1933–37 and 1954

20 Histories of service are found in IOR/V/13; both Judicial and Legislative Proceedings are nested with the series IOR/P, Public and Judicial Department correspondence in IOR/L/PJ/6, 7 Private papers are found in the European Manuscripts collection MssEur but may also be located in other manuscript collections at the BL with use of the integrated archives and manuscripts catalogue SOCAM. (See earlier note)

21 Source: Uparna Gooptu, ‘Sorabji, Cornelia (1866–1954)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36195, accessed 9 Dec 2013] Sorabji is the subject of several biographical publications found in the Library's printed collections. Her papers are found at Mss Eur F165, while her name is also mentioned in the catalogue records of several other archival/manuscript collections at the British Library. See also ‘Cornelia Calling’ – A Voyage of Discovery in the British Library – http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2013/12/cornelia-calling-a-voyage-of-discovery-in-the-british-library.html

22 See above, note 9.

23 In addition to the ODNB online, see Annex for details of finding aids for images and portraits.

24 While more incisive discovery aids may be deployed, brief detail relating to some of these examples may be found via ODNB online.

25 Details of the Legal Lives and the other law related oral history collections mentioned here are provided, unless otherwise stated, in the following collection guide Oral history: law and the legal system http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/sound/ohist/ohcoll/ohlaw/law.html

26 Interviews with Lady Hale conducted by Paula Thomson are part of the National Life Stories Collection: Legal Lives (Reference C736/08) Summaries of the interviews may be read on the Cadensa. See Annex below for link.

27 On Mandela see also Rescuing the Rivonia Trial recordings a Sound and Vision blog posting including clips of the three hour speech from the dock of Accused No. 1. [ http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/sound-and-vision/2013/12/rescuing-the-rivonia-trial-recordings.html Accessed 27/12/2013]

28 This interview is part of the Labour Lives. Other oral history projects with interviews containing accounts of the law include City Lives http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/sound/ohist/ohnls/ohcit/citylives.html and collections pertaining to parliament, government and politics http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/sound/ohist/ohcoll/ohpol/politics.html

29 Sisterhood and After: An Oral History of the Women's Liberation Movement can be explored at a surface level through thematic and biographical pages freely available at http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/sisterhood/index.html [Accessed 27/12/2013]

30 While the notion of law reports as a source “life stories” is indebted to Twining (Hamlyn Law Lectures, forty sixth series. Blackstone's Tower: the English Law School (Published under the auspices of the Hamlyn Trust, London, Stevens & Sons/Sweet and Maxwell, 1994) p.103, the idea of legal proceedings that led to Privy Council appeal contributing to the construction of identity is indebted to Nandini Charterjee.

31 Notions posited here of the type of utility these sources potentially offer for socio-legal study are indebted to Matthew Weait's “Criminal law: thinking about criminal law from a trial perspective” in Integrating socio-legal studies into the law curriculum. PalMac, Hunter, C (ed) 2012.

32 Details of the collection Appeal Cases Heard Before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (British Library Shelf mark PP1316), can be found on the British Library website at http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/busmanlaw/legalstudies/privycouncil/jcpc.html. For insight on particular life stories as narrated by Privy Council proceedings please see the following blog posts reproduced with permission from a report by Alex Giles: Stories from the Empire: Privy Council Cases 1917–1920. http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/socialscience/2013/12/stories-from-the-empire-privy-council-cases-1917–1920.html#sthash.WJ0Xopcy.dpuf continued at http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/socialscience/2013/12/stories-from-the-empire-privy-council-cases-1917–1920-contd.html#sthash.nbav9CCi.dpuf and Women of the Empire: a Privy Council case http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2013/12/women-of-the-empire-a-privy-council-case.html

33 A statutory duty on UK and Irish publishers and distributors to deposit one copy of printed works with each legal deposit library has been statutorily provided since 1662. This situation has recently been evolving with regard to non-print works. For more information see http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/legaldeposit/

34 This is an invented title. Any similarity to specific works or individuals is entirely coincidental.

35 An example is the autobiography of Terrell, RogerAn unusual brief: the life and times of a high street lawyer (Peterborough: Fastprint Pub., 2012)Google Scholar (Legal Deposit. British Library Shelf Mark YK.2012.a.30507) from an advertisement in the Law Society Gazette (Gazette. 18-OCT-2012, p.36) [http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/roger-terrell/3630.bio accessed 27/12/2013] appears to offer insight into everyday high street practice as well as more exceptional work.

36 Published in series as Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis; part 3423 (Exchange agreement. British Library shelf mark Ac.868.c/3(3423)).

37 Kuneš Sonntag: životní příběh z dvacátého století. Jindřich Fiala, interviewer. Praha: Nakladatelství P3K, 2013. (Purchased. British Library shelf mark YF.2013.a.19650)

38 Young man with a red tie: a memoir of Mandela and the failed revolution, 1960–1963 / Bob Hepple. Auckland Park, South Africa: Jacana Media, 2013. (Purchased. British Library shelf mark YP.2013.a.6025.) Recordings of Mandela and Joffe are mentioned above. Interviews with Hepple form part of the Eminent Scholars Archive at Cambridge http://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/eminent_scholars/professor_sir_bob_hepple.php.

39 Representing the race: the creation of the civil rights lawyer. Kenneth Walter Mack. Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press, 2012. (Legal Deposit. British Library shelf mark YC.2012.a.9947)

40 Five masters of international law: conversations with R-J Dupuy, E. Jiménez de Aréchaga, R. Jennings, L. Henkin and O. Schachter / Antonio Cassese. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011. (Legal Deposit. British Library shelf mark YK.2012.a.18080).

41 Reaching the bar: stories from women at all stages of their law careers” / edited by Robin Sax. New York: Kaplan, c2009. (Legal Deposit. British Library shelf mark YK.2010.a.5620.)

42 The story of the first woman admitted to the California bar can be explored in Woman lawyer: the trials of Clara Foltz/Barbara Babcock. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press; London: Eurospan [distributor], 2011.Google Scholar (Legal Deposit. British Library Shelf Mark) as well as via Stamford University's Women's Legal History Biography Project at http://wlh.law.stanford.edu/woman-lawyer/ accessed 27/12/2013) Cornelia Sorabji (bachelor of civil law in 1892, called to the bar 1923. Source ODNB online), whose private papers at the British Library are mentioned elsewhere in this article, is the subject of several published biographies.

43 See footnote 8. Explore, the British Library's main catalogue covering, among other materials, printed, and increasingly, digitised and born-digital books.

44 See note 8.

45 For example see the SOCAM records for the Coleridge or Cave papers (previously cited). Search refinement options to the left of the screen also offer the ability to select or deselect records relating to series, sub-series, file, and item levels, etc. While the India Office records can also be searched and browsed in this manner, an outline of their structure can be usefully gained from the Library website (http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/india/indiaofficerecords/indiaofficearrangement/indiaofficearrangedrecord.html Accessed 27/12/2013)

46 Hyper-links connecting the catalogue user to occurrences of the person of interest as the author or “Subject of…” a paper or file described in an associated record are visible on the right hand side of catalogue records identifying the individual or institution in question by selecting “Detail”.

47 The stories of a C19th convict and C18th constable are recounted, with the help of Connected Histories, by Jane Winters in, respectively, an IHR blog post (7th November 2011) [http://ihrhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/bringing-together-old-bailey.html Accessed 27/12/2013] and Past and Future, Autumn 2010, p14

[http://issuu.com/schoolofadvancedstudy/docs/past-and-future-2010-autumn.pdf Accessed 27/12/2013]

48 From OBOs own Associated Records database [http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/forms/formAssociatedRecords.jsp Accessed 27/12/2013] the lives of defendants in criminal proceedings can be traced further through to separate accounts in well over 3000 associated records held at the British Library. In addition, citations in the Associated Records database to entries in the calendars of State Papers can be used to go directly to the full text of these public records in State Papers online. Both the printed calendars and the State papers Online are available in the British Library reading rooms.