Cataloging British and Irish government documents

This article is about cataloging legal documents emanating from, or principally recording the activities of, the governments of England, England and Wales, Great Britain, Scotland, and Ireland in the early modern period. In addition to providing guidelines for different types of government documents, this article documents Folger catalogers' deliberate deviation from Resource Description and Access (RDA) in formulating authorized access points. These instructions reflect current policy; there are many records in Hamnet for government documents that follow different standards.

Chronology

England: 927-1536

England and Wales: 1536-1707

Interregnum: 1649-01-30 through 30 May 1660

Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales): 1707-

Scotland: -1707

Ireland: -1801

Proclamations

Official announcements given by the sovereign (or Parliament during the Interregnum) or under his or her approval.

Authorized access points

• Use the authorized corporate name. For example:

1101 England and Wales. ǂb Sovereign (1558-1603 : Elizabeth I) 

1101 England and Wales. ǂb Privy Council. 

1101 Scotland. ǂb Sovereign (1424-1437 : James I) 

1101 England and Wales. ǂb Parliament. [1642-1660]

*Uniform title "Proclamations" followed by the full, inverted date of the proclamation. For example: : <code> 240 10 Proclamations. 1553-07-19</code> '''Bibliographical citation''' *Add a [[MARC_510_Reference_Citation_Note | 510]] reference citation to : <code>510 Crawford, J.L.L. Bibliography of royal proclamations of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns and of others published under authority, 1485-1714 </code> *Note that the English short title catalogue and Wing, D.G. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English books printed in other countries, 1641-1700 (2nd ed.) refer to this bibliography as "Steele." *Crawford includes proclamations and acts ordered to be proclaimed by Parliament during the Commonwealth, from the Execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649 and the arrival of Charles II in London on 30 May 1660. *Add the Crawford notation from the bibliography, reformulated into understandable prose. Example: : The entry in Crawford has this: Arms 10 Scotland mother Raigne : <code> 500 The last word of the first line of text is "Scotland"; the first word in the indented line below the initial is "mother"; the last word of the last full line of text is "Raigne."Crawford Arms 10.</code> Most records in Hamnet currently have simply "Steele notation" or "Crawford notation". *If the item is not in Crawford but is within its scope, give the notation in the same way. : <code> 500 Not in Crawford, J.L.L. Bibliography of royal proclamations of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns and of others published under authority, 1485-1714. Crawford-style notation: last word of the first line of text is "are"; first word in the indented line below the initial is "any"; the last word of the last full line of text is "per-".</code> '''Genre terms ''' * <code> 655 7 Proclamations. ǂ2 rbgenr </code> : If the proclamation was issued by or with the advice of the Privy Council, add also * <code> 655 7 Orders in council. ǂ2 rbgenr </code> ===Examples=== *http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=264760 *http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=264085 ==Acts of Parliament== *Use the name valid for the government at the time the document was issued. Enacted laws are entered under the name of the political jurisdiction, not of Parliament. There are three types of acts: public general acts, local acts, and private acts. ===Compilations=== *For collections of acts and other enacted laws corresponding to a particular session of Parliament, use the collective uniform title followed by a short citation, formulated by a combination of the calendar year of enactment, the reigning monarch's regnal year. The citation forms can be found here: **[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England_to_1483 List of Acts of the Parliament of England to 1483] **[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England,_1485%E2%80%931601 List of Acts of the Parliament of England, 1485–1601] **[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England,_1603%E2%80%9341 List of Acts of the Parliament of England, 1603–1641] **[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ordinances_and_Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England,_1642%E2%80%9360 List of Ordinances and Acts of the Parliament of England, 1642–1660] **[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England,_1660%E2%80%9399 List of Acts of the Parliament of England, 1660–99] **[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England,_1700%E2%80%9306 List of Acts of the Parliament of England, 1700–1706] *Example : <code> 240 10 Public general acts. 1731. 4 Geo.II </code> *For collections of acts of the English and British Parliament and other enacted laws that are complete within a chronological period, use the collective uniform title with the inclusive years. Example: : <code>240 10 Public general acts. 1685-1707</code> *For selected collections of acts, &c., add the form term "Selections" at the end. : <code> 240 10 Public general acts. 1742. ǂk Selections </code> ===Individual acts=== *Use the collective uniform title with the short citation and the chapter number. Example: : <code>240 10 Public general acts. 1731. 4 Geo.II.c.6 </code> ===Individual ordinances and acts during the Interregnum (1642-1660)=== Parliament used "ordinance" until 1653 and "act" after that. For purposes of consistency, use "Ordinances" with the inverted date for all legislation enacted by Parliament during the Interregnum :<code>240 10 Ordinances. 1651-02-04. ==Year books== [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Books Year books] are the law reports of medieval England. Written in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_French Law French] (language code roa), they were reprinted through the end of the 17th century. '''Example records''' *http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=226414 *http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=226424 *http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=270671 ==Miscellaneous documents== Use "Miscellaneous documents" with inverted 8-digit year for official documents for which no other uniform title is appropriate. '''Example''' <pre>110 10 England and Wales. ǂb Sovereign (1625-1649 : Charles I) 240 10 Miscellaneous documents. 1642-06-16 245 10 His Majesties declaration to all his loving subjects, occasioned by a false and scandalous imputation laid upon His Majesty of an intention of raising or leavying war against his Parliament, and of having raised force to that end ...

Genre/form

• Add appropriate genre term: Laws, Legal documents, Legal instruments, Legislative proceedings.

Other government documents

For Scottish laws and other kinds of documents (e.g., bills, parliamentary papers, speeches, treaties), consult the head of cataloging.

External links

• Acts of Parliament (Wikipedia)
• Public General Acts (Leeds University)
• Year books (Boston University)
• British Sessions of Parliament (source unknown)
• British and Irish Government Documents (ESTC cataloging rules)