ILS Guides: Moody

Harvard Law School's International Legal Studies Library collects laws of all foreign jurisdictions, except for the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and Australia, which are collected in the Langdell Anglo-American Collection.

At the ILS Library, foreign law is classified using Harvard's own Moody classification system. This system arranges materials first by jurisdiction, then by form, subject, author, and in some instances, date.

This system uses a three-part call number: the first part indicates jurisdiction, the second part defines the book by form (first digit) and subject (last two digits); and the third part contains other identifying information, such as a very abbreviated form of the author's name or the title.

A decimal extension of the number that makes up the second part is sometimes used to designate a further subdivision of the subject.

For example: FRA 962 ALE, where: FRA=France 
900s=treatises 62=constitutional law ALE=author

Using the Moody classification system can make legal research in foreign jurisdictions easier. For instance, all judicial reports are classified in the 500s, all constitutions in the 100s, et cetera. In any jurisdiction, you can go to the call number you are interested in and browse the shelf for books on your area of interest.

Also, in HOLLIS, you can perform a Browse Search the "Other Call Number" option to find materials in your subject area.

For example, to find treatises on commercial law in the UAE, perform a Browse Search using the "Other Call Number" selection from the drop down menu. Enter UAE 929. (UAE=United Arab Emirates 900s=treatises 29=commercial law).

Form Categories

Following are the form categories indicated by the first digit of the second part of the call number:

Subject List

Following is an alphabetical list of some of the subjects used in the Moody system:

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R S  T  U V W YZ

 Jurisdictional Symbols

Following is a list of the jurisdictional symbols used in the ILS Library:

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R S  T  U  V W  YZ

Jurisdictional abbreviations in parentheses indicate additional locations for materials related to the country. Please note that some of the jurisdictional symbols still in use are anachronistic, but the Library does not always have the time nor funding to correct records for such a large collection when political changes take place.

 * = Denotes juristictional abbreviations no longer in use for current materials. Older Materials still bear this abbreviation.