The Squire Law Library has an extensive collection of EU materials. This includes primary legislation (Treaties), secondary legislation (Regulations, Directives and Decisions), preparatory materials (draft legislation and documents related to the legislative process), case law of the European Court of Justice, bulletins, newsletters, monographs and serials. To bolster these European materials, there are extensive collections on Comparative Law, Conflict of Laws and Roman Law.
Because the Squire Law Library is administratively part of the Univerity Library system, readers also have access to the European Documentation Centre (EDC) in the main University Library (200 yards north of the Squire Law Library across West Road - see the map). The EDC contains all official publications and documents of the European Union, which are placed in the University Library in its role as a depositary. It forms part of a Europe-wide system of selected sites established by the European Union in 1963 with an aim to support understanding, teaching and research in European legal matters. There are 44 such sites in the United Kingdom - see the European Documentation Centres homepage for more information. Although the University Library formally became an EDC in 1963, prior to that, an exchange agreement existed with the Coal and Steel Community. Consequently acquisition of European legal materials by the UL goes back to the foundation of the European Communities.
Teaching and research in European Union law is strong in the Law Faculty. This tradition was started by Dr Kurt Lipstein (later Professor of Comparative Law from 1973 - 1976) and is currently concentrated in the Centre for European Legal Studies (CELS). The current Director of CELS is Professor Kenneth Armstrong (Professor of European Law 2013 - present). His speciality is "evolving governance and institutional structures of the EU." His latest book Brexit Time was published by CUP in 2017. Professor Armstrong has recently been awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship to run from 2018 - 21. This will focus on analysis of the dynamics of regulatory alignment and divergence after Brexit.
Because of the rapid growth in volume and importance of EU legislation and its relationship to English law, the Squire Law Library has an active policy of strengthening its collection to support teaching and research in all areas. This is particularly so in the fields of enlargement, external relations and constitutional law. Currently our strengths lie in Intellectual Property Law, Commercial Law and Corporate Law.
A consolidated list of the Squire Law Library 's primary holdings in European Union Law can be found on the FLAG database, a collaborative Internet gateway to the holdings of foreign, international and comparative law in UK universities and national libraries. Relevant electronic subscriptions supporting research in EU law are listed on the Legal Database page.