Only students registered at King’s Inns may borrow material from the holdings of current legal textbooks. A total of two books may be borrowed at a time. Certain current textbooks are for Library use only. The majority of the Library’s holdings are reference only.

Please contact the library by email library@kingsinns.ie to renew books or place a hold.

Online Resources

The Library subscribes to a wide range of electronic databases which provide students with remote access to Irish, English, European and International material.

1. Bloomsbury Professional Online: King’s Inns Library subscribes to the Irish property law, Irish civil litigation, Irish criminal law, Irish company and commercial law, Irish medical law, Irish planning law, Irish employment law, Irish child and family law and Intellectual Property & IT modules of this service, enabling students to access major Irish legal textbooks and a monthly update of legal developments in the specific areas.

2. vLex: An online legal research platform and database providing access to Irish reported and unreported cases. Working as a citator it provides information on the relationship between cases.

3. Decisis: A current awareness tool, it includes updates on all recently published judgments of the Irish superior courts.

4. Westlaw IE:A wide range of Irish legal periodicals can be found on this database. It also provides access to the Consolidated Court Rules, Irish Current Law Statutes Annotated, the Irish Law Reports Monthly, a current awareness service and a number of e–books.

5. Lexis+ UK: An extensive range of material is available on this database including Halsbury’s Laws of England, law reports from the UK and Ireland, international and UK journals, material from Australia, Canada and New Zealand and some e–books.

6. Westlaw UK: A major legal database which gives access to a wide range of UK legislation, law reports and journals. The Legal Journals Index, EU and international material are also included. Some e–books are covered by the King’s Inns subscription.

7. Cambridge Core: provides access to a number of e–journals and e–books.

8. HeinOnline: This resource hosts a extensive range of e–journal titles spanning many jurisdictions, and includes a collection of Irish legal journals.

Inter–Library Loans

The Library of the King’s Inns is a registered customer of the British Library Document Supply Service.

The purpose of this service is to enable students to have access to material not currently held by the Library. Students can access copies of articles, journals, reports, conference papers or borrow books from the British Library collection.

The fees for this service are set by the British Library Document Supply Service.

Please contact a member of the Library team for further information or if you wish to avail of this service.

King’s Inns Library may be accessed for research purposes by suitably qualified members of the academic community who have been granted the necessary permission and by prior appointment only. Some of the material held by the Library is fragile and the regulations for researchers must be adhered to. The preservation and conservation of material in the collections is our primary concern and due to the fragile nature of some materials it may not be possible to view the original.

Please email library@kingsinns.ie with queries about the library collection.

Rules for researchers >

The Library and Archives team are happy to assist with genealogical queries about past members of King’s Inns. However these requests must be received in writing or by email archives@kingsinns.ie and where possible should include the appropriate names and dates.

Reproduction fees and charges:

Charges for digital images, scanning and for genealogical and other research undertaken in the Library and Archives are set out below. All our charges are currently under review.

King’s Inns Library and Archives team will facilitate reasonable requests for scanning and/or photographing of material subject to the condition of the material and completion of the appropriate forms. King’s Inns reserves the right to refuse to photograph or scan certain items. The preservation and conservation of material in the collections is our primary concern and due to the fragile nature of some materials it may not be possible to facilitate a reproduction. All relevant provisions of the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 must be complied with.

Memorials

• Fee for digital image of one Memorial €12.00

• Fee for digital image of the second and subsequent Memorials €8.00

• Fee for previously digitised Memorials €5.00 each

• A maximum of 4 Memorials may be requested

Reduced rates are available for subscribing members of the King’s Inns

• Fee for digital image of one Memorial €10.00

• Fee for digital image of the second and subsequent Memorials €7.00

• Fee for previously digitised Memorials €4.00 each

• A maximum of 4 Memorials may be requested

Other archive materials

• A fee of €3.00 per digital image

Scanning

Only certain items from the historical or archive collection are eligible for scanning. This service is not available for current materials or to current students

• Minimum charge for PDF scans (1–10 pages) €5.00, plus 50c per additional page

Search fees

King’s Inns Library and Archives reserves the right to require payment of a search fee. The minimum search fee is €50.00 and is payable in advance of the supply of material.

Photocopying

All relevant provisions of the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 must be complied with.

Photocopying of material from the historical or archive collection is not permitted. Please consult with a member of library staff for the most appropriate method of obtaining a copy.

Current registered students can print/photocopy using their student papercut account at a cost of 6c per page.

Subscribing members of King’s Inns can print/photocopy using the library papercut account at a cost of 12c per page.

If photocopying is carried out by a member of library staff on behalf of any category of user there is a surcharge of 12c per page in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 (S.I. No. 247 of 2000)

Postage

Normal postage rates apply

While King’s Inns was established in 1541, the Society had begun to acquire books for a library in 1788 when the benchers agreed to purchase some law volumes that belonged to the estate of the late Christopher Robinson, a judge in King's Bench. As its collection grew it was stored for a while in the bencher's chamber. 

In 1825, the Benchers voted £1,000 for the erection of a new library building. The present library building was erected between 1826 and 1830, to a design by Frederick Darley. In 1892 an annexe was added at the north–west end.

The Society enjoyed the benefit of the Copyright Act, 1801, entitling it to a free copy of any book published in the United Kingdom; but it lost that privilege in 1836. Nevertheless, partly due to a steady stream of acquisitions that included donations, the Society soon boasted a fine collection of both legal and non-legal texts. The benchers thus encouraged members of the legal profession to read widely in both the humanities and the law.

Legal Material

The online catalogue, available to students through Moodle lists all law textbooks and the current legal serials holdings. Work is in progress on converting the older legal periodicals from the card catalogue.

The Printed Catalogue lists law books received up to 1846, with some written additions up to c1920. This material is included in the records on the online catalogue. 

General material

The Guard–book Catalogues list the general works held by the Library. A project is underway to convert these handwritten records into online catalogue entries.

Historic Manuscripts

The Library holds over 300 manuscripts, which date from the early 17th century to the 20th century, covering both legal and non–legal matters. Further information on our manuscript project can be obtained here and more detailed information on the content can be found in our “Guide and Descriptive List”.