The Making of Modern Law: Landmark Records and Briefs of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 1891–1950

CONTENT

Gale presents another installment in its “Making of Modern Law” series, which features comprehensive primary and secondary sources on all things legal from the 1600s through the late 20th century. Previous databases in the series focused on international law, American and British trials, and U.S. Supreme Court briefs and records. By contrast, this collection chronicles additions of the 11 United States appellate courts from 1891 until 1950. It comprises nearly two million pages of briefs from appellants, appellees, and supporters as well as appellant and appellee replies, appendixes, memoranda, petitions, statement, transcripts, and more. Key legal issues of the era are extensively covered: patents, trademarks, and copyrights; free speech; interstate commerce; law enforcement; tax policy; labor and worker rights; immigration; reproductive rights; civil rights; environmental conservation; and public health. In addition, historically significant cases involving the rights of Indigenous people, women, children, and people of color are also detailed. The collection is an important resource not only for legal researchers but also for anyone interested in the economic, political, and social issues of the 1900s.

USABILITY

The homepage is classic Gale, with a large basic search box, an advanced search option, a general description of the database, and links to information on circuit courts, cases, authors, research tools, user search history, and in-depth information about the archive. Also included is a “get link” tool for setting up links to search results, articles, publications, and media content, along with two other search aids: the Topic Finder and Term Frequency. Searching the collections is simple and straightforward. From the landing page, users can enter a term in the basic search box, go to the advanced search page, or click on the “circuits” tag. In advanced search, browsing is available by keyword, entire document, document title, author/creator, case name, brief name, reporter citation, docket number, subject, publication, subject, or Gale document number. Results can be limited by archive, circuit, file date, opinion date, document type, or source library. Each Circuit Court has its own page with search box. Checking the “allow variations” box enables users to retrieve imperfect matches to accommodate historical or spelling variations. Users can also retrieve all documents of the Circuit from that page. Within a document, users can search for specific terms, go directly to a particular page, or link to a related volume or subject. Response time is quick, and navigation is simple. The visual quality of the documents is first-rate with multiple viewing and adjustment options. Documents can be downloaded, printed, emailed, and shared. Citations can be exported to in APA, Chicago, Harvard, or MLA styles.

PRICING

Pricing starts at $9,135 for the collection, with a hosting fee that starts at $83 annually. Public library pricing is based on population served and starts at $6,090 for the collection, with a hosting fee that starts at $55 annually. Academic library pricing is based on an institution’s full-time enrollment and other institutional variables. Subscriptions are available upon request. Institutions holding two or more Gale Primary Source collections receive complimentary access to the Gale Primary Sources cross-search platform which allows users to discover connections between other archival collections published by Gale. A free trial for the product can be requested at bit.ly/3scbLHS.

VERDICT

The database is an excellent addition for libraries that already subscribe to the “Making of Modern Law” series or that have patrons in need of access to U.S. historical appellate court information.

Correction: A previous version of this review incorrectly listed the dates of the included 11 United States appellate courts as spanning 1891 through 1980. The URL to the site has also been updated.