Classification of Legal Materials

• The core of the law collection (monographs, legal reporting publications and loose-leaf publications) is kept on the upper floor of the Library and is classified according the Steiner classification scheme for the law collection.
• This scheme was drawn up in 1981 for the EUI by W.A.F.P. Steiner, former librarian of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of London.
• Each class mark is composed of:
   

1.  Jurisdiction : one or more capital letters, followed by
2.  Subject division  : one or more small letters, followed by

3.  Form  :  a number

For example:

 Dcj9 - sources in international law

ECcd9 - European constitutional law

Lf4 - Text of the German Constitution

 

Jurisdictions i.e. main classes (capital letters) 

The scheme provides for works on all jurisdictions. The following synopsis of main classes identifies only those on which the Law Library has a certain amount of material.

 

Subject divisions (small letters) 

A common set of subject divisions is applied to all country jurisdictions (classes G-Z) and includes the differing requirements of common law and civil law jurisdictions. The following synopsis lists the main subject divisions of country jurisdictions:  

Special subject divisions have been developed for the classes:

• B - Jurisprudence
• D - Public international law
• EB - Council of Europe
• EC - European Union

See the Guide to the Steiner Classification Scheme at the entrance of the Library for a more detailed description of these classes.

Form divisions (numbers) 

A selection of the most used form divisions is given below (these are form divisions used for jurisdictional main classes i.e. G-Z. Special variations are provided for main classes A, C, D, E).

• 23 - Encyclopedias
• 32 - Parliamentary papers
• 34 - Conference proceedings
• 4 - Primary legislation
• 5 - Law reports and court records
• 6 - Cases
• 9 - Monographs
• 92 - Festschriften. Collections