Major Collections

The WashU Law Library houses specialized collections that support advanced legal research across multiple jurisdictions, historical periods, and formats.

East Asian Law Collection

The Law Library’s East Asian Law Collection contains approximately 4,700 titles and 12,500 volumes, making it one of the largest in the country. The collection is housed on the first floor of the Law Library and contains contemporary and historical legal materials in Chinese as well as English. We have statutes, casebooks, periodicals, legal encyclopedias, major law treatises, and monographs. The focus is on scholarly works intended for use by law professors and students and also on practitioner’s international transaction and business materials.

The Chinese Law Collection is the third largest in the United States, ranking only behind Harvard and the Library of Congress. This collection contains 5,600 titles and 12,300 volumes in Chinese and was started in the 1960’s by the late Professor William C. Jones (1926-2005), an American pioneer in Chinese legal scholarship who was on the faculty of the law school. Most of the collection is housed on the Law Library’s first floor within the classified materials under KNN (pre-1949 Chinese law), KNP (Taiwan), KNQ (P.R. China), and KNR (Hong Kong).

The permanent collection of primary Chinese legal materials includes one set of Chinese laws and regulatory compilations and a number of Chinese case law reporters, including Ren Min Fa Yuan An Li Xuan (selected cases from the People’s Courts), published monthly by the Supreme People’s Court since 1992, and Zhongguo Shen Pan An Li Yao Lan (significant adjudicated case reports), published by the People’s University Press since 1992. The law library collects almost all English monographs on Chinese law, plus Chinese legal monographs by well-known scholars and textbooks from top Chinese law schools.

The library has subscribed to China Law Info since 2000, the most comprehensive Chinese law database available in both Chinese and English. The Chinese site includes access to almost all primary legal sources, Chinese law journals, annotated laws database, case commentary, and practice guides. The English site provides translated versions of laws from the National People’s Congress, State Council regulations, Supreme People’s Court interpretations and cases, administrative rules related to foreign investment and trade, and the Chinese Law Yearbook.

All materials are cataloged and searchable on WorldCat.org and the online catalog. To search CJK titles in the vernacular, click on “Other Catalogs” and select “Viewing Chinese/Japanese/Korean and other Non-Roman scripts in the Catalog.”

East Asian materials are classified in the range of KNN to KPA within the Library of Congress Classification Schedules and are located on the first floor of the Law Library.

To learn more about the East Asian Law Collection contact Mr. Wei Luo, Director of Technical Services, at luo@wustl.edu or (314) 935-8045.

British Collection

The British Collection is located in compact shelving on the first floor of the Library. The collection consists chiefly of primary materials from countries now or previously included within the British Commonwealth. Included are reports, digests, yearbooks, encyclopedias, and case law from most of the Commonwealth jurisdictions. Geographic areas covered include England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and its provinces, and Australia and its territories.

For more information on this collection, contact a reference librarian.

Government Documents

The Law Library is an official selective depository library of the United States government. As a result, administrative and judicial decisions, executive agency reports and other documents issued by the Federal government are included within our collection. Most are concentrated in the print and microform Government Documents collection (second floor), the Federal Materials Collection (fifth floor), Reference (fourth floor), Reserve (fourth floor), and the Reading Room (fourth floor). The publications in the primary Government Documents Collection (on the second floor) are arranged according to the Superintendent of Documents classification system (SuDoc). Some documents have not yet been cataloged in the Law School online catalog. Numerous print and online indexes, however, provide access to the collection.

Many government documents are available in our Microform Collection. Many others are available electronically, both via commercial online computer databases and www.govinfo.gov.

For more information about government documents, their availability and use, contact a reference librarian or the Government Documents Librarian.

Reading Room Collection

The Reading Room is more than just a pretty face. You will also find current and historic volumes of the Statutes at Large, the United States Code, and all of the federal court reporters, including nominal reporters and USCAAN. You will also find a copy of the current Code of Federal Regulations and United States Code Service. In addition to federal materials is a copy of the Missouri statutes and cases, legal encyclopedias and more.

The first floor of the library contains State Materials, primary laws from all of the states. These materials are no longer kept current.

Reserves & Periodicals

Current issues of periodicals, as well as permanent and temporary Reserve materials, are held behind the Circulation Desk. These materials may be checked out for limited time periods, typically 2 hours, by presenting a picture ID to the desk attendant.

Permanent Reserve materials include hornbooks; nutshells; Restatements; multimedia materials; Missouri CLE’s; and other current practice and high demand materials. The online catalog record for these titles will reflect a location of Law Library Reserve.

Temporary Reserve materials are those materials which a Professor or group has placed on Reserve for class (or other temporary) use. A listing of temporary reserve materials is available in the online catalog on the “Course Reserves” tab.

Bound periodicals are located on the 5th floor of the library, organized alphabetically by title and on the 1st floor room that is under the Reading Room. Recent issues which have not yet been bound are in the Reserve Collection on the 4th floor. Many are available electronically and a search of the online catalog will link you to available access.

Rare Books

The Law Library contains a selective, yet rich, rare book collection of approximately 1850 titles, including manuscripts and over one hundred fifty pre-1600 imprints. This collection is a valuable resource for legal scholars doing historical research. Use of these materials, housed in the Rare Book Room in Anheuser-Busch Hall on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis, is by appointment only Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. All titles are non-circulating.

To make an appointment to use the materials contained in the Rare Book Collection, contact Joshua Zink, Resource Description and Technical Services Librarian, at jdzink@wustl.edu or (314) 935-6379.

To donate any rare books or to submit detailed questions about the collection, contact Dorie Bertram, Co-Interim Law Library Director at bertram@wustl.edu or (314) 935-6484.

Microforms

The Microfiche and Microfilm Collection is located on the second floor of the Library. While some of the items in the collection are cataloged in the school’s online catalog, many are not. To view a list of all titles available, and to search for specific titles and types of microforms, see the links below. If needed, please contact a reference librarian for assistance in using this collection.

Search Microforms by Title

Search Microforms by Location

Search Microforms by Format Type (Fiche or Film)