An Historical Overview of American Law Publishing

Law publishing - that is, the reproduction and dissemination of statutes, judicial decisions, commentaries, legal forms and texts - is as old as writing and can be found in all literate societies. In the ancient world, written law was essential to political and social relations. That can be seen from the importance given to law codes in the Semitic, Greek and Roman societies. Over the centuries and in every medium from stone and clay, papyrus and parchment, to paper and the electronic media of our day - law has been a major component of literature. The very fact of publication is an essential requirement for the enactment and efficacy of laws in many societies. Publication of law was widespread before the invention of printing and was achieved by reproducing important texts in multiple manuscript copies which could then be disseminated to libraries, officials and others who needed them and could afford them. The printing of law depended not only on the invention of the press itself, but also on the acceptance of what more accessible law might mean to society. In England, for example this was a matter of considerable controversy for over a hundred years

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• The rise and fall of the Shah

  Amin Saikal•The rise and fall of the Shah•1980

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• American Independence

  Martin Kallich, Thomas R Adams•Eighteenth-Century Studies•1982

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• Doing it by the book

  John A Conley•The Journal of Legal History•1985

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• Looseleafing The Flow

  Howard T Senzel•American Journal of Legal History•2000

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