You can now quickly identify single female plaintiffs in Court of Requests cases by searching REQ 2 for the code "SFP". Over 2,500 hits. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_s...

Daniel F Gosling@thegozfather.bsky.social · 4d ago

Some very REQciting news. My Court of Requests pleadings (REQ 2/16-424) project is now complete. Over 28,000 items dating from c.1547-c.1625 (Edw VI to Jas I) now searchable online. Happy researching everyone 🙂 discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C...

Some very REQciting news. My Court of Requests pleadings (REQ 2/16-424) project is now complete. Over 28,000 items dating from c.1547-c.1625 (Edw VI to Jas I) now searchable online. Happy researching everyone 🙂 discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C...

Text of the act here: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/4... #LegalHistory

History of Parliament@histparl.bsky.social · 6d ago

Today in 1963, the Peerage Act was given royal assent. This allowed those who inherited a peerage who had entered the House of Lords the option of disclaiming their title. Alfie Steer explores Tony Benn's role in the passage of this Act, enabling him to be reelected to the House of Commons.

Back up again.

The Statutes Project@statutes.bsky.social · 2w ago

Site is down again. Looking into it.

Site is down again. Looking into it.

Statutes site currently down, due to problems with my hosts server. More news as I get it.

The Irish Legislation Database is back, at a new URL: resources.qub.ac.uk/ild/ Be warned: there seem to be quite a few broken links. #LegalHistory #History

I had a blast at this year's British Legal History Conference at the University of Nottingham, where I was talking about my early findings from surveying the whole of the Star Chamber estreats of fines in TNA E 159. [1/3]

Today the government repealed the 1824 Vagrancy Act. The focus has been on rough sleeping but the government has also accidentality repealed one of the most anti-Romani pieces of legislation. I've been researching the act and here's why its interesting www.gov.uk/government/n... 1/5

Rough sleeping no longer a crime as Vagrancy Act repealed

The government will repeal the Vagrancy Act on Monday 29 June 2026, ending nearly two centuries of legislation that has criminalised rough sleeping and begging.

gov.uk

Good riddance to this awful law: statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta... #LegalHistory

Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · last mo.

"The government will repeal the Vagrancy Act on Monday 29 June 2026, ending nearly two centuries of legislation that has criminalised rough sleeping and begging" www.gov.uk/government/n...

I found a quite interesting book today. It's well indexed too, for example in case you were wondering if you were obliged to let a tiger stay in your establishment? I can see how that would be a gray area, but seemingly no...

On #LovingDay, explore the legal records behind Loving v. Virginia (1967), the Supreme Court case that struck down laws banning interracial marriage. The Internet Archive has digitized and made available the briefs, lower-court opinions, and related documents. archive.org/details/micr...

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) (No. 395) : Supreme Court of the United States : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Case name: Loving v. VirginiaOpinion filed: 1967-06-12Docket No.: 395Citations:• 18 L. Ed. 2d 1010• 87 S. Ct. 1817• 388 U.S. 1• 1967 U.S. LEXIS...

archive.org

New issue marks 100 years since first publication of Kafka's brilliant unfinished novel 'The Castle': guest editorial (Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko) and all research articles, essays, arts and book reviews now available on the website: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

It's taken a while, but there's now an Open Access version of an essay of mine (the publisher offered no route to OA, with or without embargo). Come and satisfy all your canon law history needs: 'Parliament and the law of the Church of England, 1943–74 peterwebster.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

A case of LLM vs LLM: Judge Learns Lawyers on Both Sides of Case Used AI, Cancels Trial, Kicks Everyone Off the Case www.404media.co/judge-learns... #LegalAI

Judge Learns Lawyers on Both Sides of Case Used AI, Cancels Trial, Kicks Everyone Off the Case

When two AIs argue against each other, the legal system loses.

404media.co

For anyone who published a book, article, or digital project on legal history between Jan.2025 and Dec.2026: you should apply to be featured in the ASLH's virtual event series for next yr--"Making Connections: New Works in Legal History, 2026-27." Due June 30, 2026: aslh.net/virtual-book... (1/2)

Not before time: France overturns law classing people as property – 178 years after it abolished slavery National assembly votes to repeal Code Noir under which enslaved people were beaten, raped and killed www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m... #LegalHistory #EnslavedHistory

France overturns law classing people as property – 178 years after it abolished slavery

National assembly votes to repeal Code Noir under which enslaved people were beaten, raped and killed

theguardian.com

Precisely why I started the Statutes Project: to make legislation discoverable, useable and citable. Whilst there's some very bad citation practices by historians, it is also needlessly difficult, and the infrastructure is lacking.

Evan@evansmithhist.bsky.social · 3mo ago

On the whole checking your sources thing, it is surprising how many times scholars rely on the work of other scholars to describe what a particular piece of legislation says or does. I am forever hunting down original Acts, Regulations and Orders to see what they actually said.

🚨 NEW TOOL for U.S. legal journalists ⚖️ I turned @allyjar.bsky.social's incredible crowdsourced Google doc on accessing state court records into an interactive map. Check it out and let me know about any errors, missing information, or ways I can improve this thing (link below)

A bit easier to scroll: statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta... #LegalHistory

Dan Snow@thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Spending the morning with the Stamp Act.

At the Restoration in 1660, it was agreed that Charles II's reign began immediately following the death of Charles I a decade earlier, essentially ignoring the Interregnum. Some documents were even retroactively given a regnal year, like this 1649 Commonwealth record dated 1 Car. 2 [E 133/145/72]

Does anyone know what's happened to the Irish Legislation Database? When I go to www.qub.ac.uk/ild/ I get a not found message and a search isn't yielding anything. @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social @qubhistory.bsky.social @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social Panicking just a little here...

For #NationalTeaDay, what I think is the first statute to mention Tea. Taxes it, of course. A Grant of certaine Impositions upon Beere Ale and other Liquors for the encrease of His Majestyes Revenue dureing His Life. www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-rea... #History

I'm excited to share that we've made a collection of historic Supreme Court Records and Briefs available via @archive.org I've written a blog post where I go into detail about the importance of this collection. blog.archive.org/2026/04/20/u...

🚨Tomorrow, @JudiciaryGOP & @HouseJudiciary hold a hearing on the PRO CODES Act. As SCOTUS has already ruled: “No one can own the law.” This bill threatens that precedent by extending copyright to public laws and standards, restricting your right to access the rules we live by. ⚖️🏛️

Race, Law and Empire, 1750-1850 Conference University of Southampton AND online 17th - 18th July 2026 Call for Papers extended by popular request. Full details below. Please share widely. Established, emerging researchers are very welcome. Supported by @leverhulme.ac.uk

On 11 June 2026, I'm running an online intro to early modern legal records, part of The National Archives' Practical Archival Skills Training #TNAPAST workshops. More details can be found via the link. For accompanying on-site workshops, see the below thread www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/past-early...

PAST Early Modern Legal: Online Overview

A one-day online introduction to Early Modern Legal records.

eventbrite.co.uk

Story time. Back in 2009, when I started CourtListener, I had the goal of collecting all the case law. I was young, naive, and I worked really hard at it. I gathered data from places like Public.Resource.org, and scraped what I could from other sources. 1/4

Free Law Project ⚖@free.law · 4mo ago

Big news today: Free Law Project is now scanning thousands of books to ensure that CourtListener's collection of case law is complete and comprehensive. free.law/2026/04/16/s...

Happily, our regnal year calculator - niche even by our standards - only covers the lifespan of the UK Parliament, so does not need to cope with regicide api.parliament.uk/regnal-years

The Statutes Project@statutes.bsky.social · 4mo ago

A fine instance of how problematic regnal calendars are.

A fine instance of how problematic regnal calendars are.

Daniel F Gosling@thegozfather.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In 1660, judges couldn't agree on which regnal year to use in the indictment against the regicides, as the crime of killing Charles I occurred on the last regnal day of Charles I's reign but also the first of Charles II's. So they just went with "30 Jan 1649" [from Sir John Kelyng's Reports]