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From historical collections to digital collections
The Law Collection
With more than 1.25 million print publications the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin holds Germany‘s largest universal collection of legal literature. Since the founding of the library in 1661, legal sources have always been objects of the library’s intensive acquisition policy. These documents have reflected the social and political changes in Germany and in other countries. Since 1975 the subject area law has been supported and funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Today the Specialised Information Service for international and interdisciplinary legal research organises the cross-regional literature supply in print and digital format for legal scholarship in Germany.
Over time, first as the Kurfüstliche Bibliothek, then as the Königliche Bibliothek and finally as the Preußische Staatsbibliothek, the library acquired a vast amount of law-related literature. The unique historical collection of printed works of law (1501–1955) in the Staatsbibliothek comprises around 230,000 books. Fortunately, most of these books survived the Second World War unscathed and can now be found here. The law library of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with its modern collection consists of over one million printed works, one of the largest universal law libraries in Germany.
Prussian law
The books on Prussian law form the focus of this historical collection. The website Preußischen Rechtsquellen Digital offers free access to the comprehensive collection of Prussian laws from 1298 to 1810 (about 28,000 pages in total).
Almost another 20,000 works of law are part of the Digitalisierten Sammlungen of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. These are not merely concerned with Prussian law but rather German Territorial Law of the 19th century.
Two of the most prized additions to the library’s law collection are the Archiv der Deckerschen Geheimen Ober-Hofdruckerei and the Bibliothek Savigny.
An image from the Prussian laws on fishing in 1874: these types of fish were protected in Prussia by the minimum landing size. digital copy
Modern law
The modern law collection is also unique. The law department, which has been receiving financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft since 1975, operates as a Specialised Information Service for international and interdisciplinary law research for printed and digital materials and is responsible for providing access to works of law throughout Germany. The Specialised Information Service focusses on publications in international and European law as well as topics, which are not solely related to law. The portal Virtual Law Library is a modern tool for conducting research and offers users a range of digital services.
