Halsbury's Laws of England - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Halsbury's Laws of England is a uniquely comprehensive and authoritative encyclopaedia

Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....

of law, and provides the only complete narrative statement of law in England

English law

English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...

and Wales. It has an alphabetised title scheme covering all areas of law, drawing on authorities including Acts of the United Kingdom

Statutory law

Statutory law or statute law is written law set down by a legislature or by a legislator .Statutes may originate with national, state legislatures or local municipalities...

, Measures of the Welsh Assembly, UK case law

Case law

In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...

and European law

European Union law

European Union law is a body of treaties and legislation, such as Regulations and Directives, which have direct effect or indirect effect on the laws of European Union member states. The three sources of European Union law are primary law, secondary law and supplementary law...

. It is written by or in consultation with experts in the relevant field.

Halsbury's Laws has an annual and monthly updating service. The encyclopaedia

Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....

and updates are available in both hard copy

Hard copy

In information handling, a hard copy is a permanent reproduction, or copy, in the form of a physical object, of any media suitable for direct use by a person , of displayed or transmitted data...

and online

ONLINE

ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....

History

In 1907 Stanley Shaw Bond, Editor at Butterworths, began a project to produce a complete statement of the law of England and Wales that was authoritative, comprehensive and up-to-date. Bond tracked down Lord Halsbury

Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury

Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury PC, QC was a leading barrister, politician and government minister. He served thrice as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Background and education:...

, the then Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

, on holiday in Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

to invite him to be the Editor-in-Chief of the Laws of England, which were to take his name for the second and subsequent editions of the encyclopaedia. Traditionally, the role of Editor-in-Chief of Halsbury's Laws is held by a former Lord Chancellor, and the current incumbent is Lord Mackay of Clashfern.

The First Edition of Halsbury's Laws ran from 1907 under the editorship of Lord Halsbury

Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury

Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury PC, QC was a leading barrister, politician and government minister. He served thrice as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Background and education:...

. Since then, new editions have been launched at intervals of about 20 to 30 years.

In 2007, Halsbury's Laws celebrated its centenary with an evening of seminars led by Lord Mackay of Clashfern and Professor Richard Susskind OBE, and the publication of a collection of centenary essays.

Fifth Edition

In 2008, Halsbury's Laws launched its Fifth Edition, with a new title scheme, new updating service, and improved integration of European law. New titles for the Fifth Edition include, Sports Law, Information Technology Law, Financial Services and Institutions, Judicial Review and Environmental Quality and Public Health.

Halsbury Awards

2007 was the first year of the Halsbury Awards, in association with the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians

British and Irish Association of Law Librarians

The British and Irish Association of Law Librarians is a professional body which represents information professionals working with legal information. BIALL is a self-supporting association which draws its income primarily from membership subscriptions.- History :BIALL was set up in 1969 following...

. The Awards recognise outstanding performance given by legal information services, law libraries and teams managing legal collections and resources.

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Halsbury's Laws of Australia is similar to Halsbury's Laws of England, but is written for Australia. It is an encyclopaedia of the laws of Australia. Published by LexisNexis, it is one of the two foremost legal encyclopaedias in Australia, the other being The Laws of Australia by Lawbook Co....
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History

Fifth Edition

Halsbury Awards

Related publications

See also