Moys Classification and Thesaurus for Legal Materials

The Moys Classification Scheme is a system of library classification for legal materials. It was designed by Betty Moys and first published in 1968. It is used primarily in law libraries in many common law jurisdictions such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Schedule

The Moys Classification system was specifically designed for legal materials and distinguishes between jurisdictions and between primary and secondary law. The Moys classification system groups primary materials by jurisdiction, and secondary material by subject.

Primary law

Primary Law consists of documents that contain the law, namely; legislation, law reports , indexes, and are arranged by form.

KF – Great Britain
KF 20-34 English Legislation
KF 51-54 English reports of cases before 1865
KF 55 English Authorised law reports after 1865
KF 60 English General law reports
KF 65 English specialised law reports
KF 101-160 Scottish legislation and law reports
KF 201-260 Irish legislation and law reports
KG – North America
KG 1-280 Canada – legislation and law reports (located in the compactus stack)
KG 301-377 United States – legislation and law reports (the National Reporter System at KG 352 – located in the compactus stack)

KH – Australia and New Zealand (appears first in the sequence because you place your home jurisdiction first)
KH 6-22 Commonwealth – legislation
KH 41-47 Commonwealth – law reports
KH 62-69 New South Wales – legislation
KH 75-77 New South Wales – law reports
KH 82-89 Queensland – legislation
KH 95-97 Queensland – law reports
KH 102-109 South Australia – legislation
KH 115-117 South Australia – law reports
KH 122-129 Tasmania – legislation
KH 135-137 Tasmania – law reports
KH 142-149 Victoria – legislation
KH 155-157 Victoria – law reports
KH 162-169 Western Australia – legislation
KH 175-177 Western Australia – law reports
KH 182-189 Northern Territory – legislation
KH 195-197 Northern Territory – law reports
KH 201-209 ACT – legislation
KH 235-298 Australian Territories – legislation
KH 306-322 New Zealand – legislation
KH 341-347 New Zealand – law reports

Primary law

The home jurisdiction (KH for Australia and New Zealand) are located first in the primary law sequence, Great Britain (KF) follows next in the sequence, and North America (KG) is housed in the compactus stack due to space constraints (20,000+ volumes)

KF/23.C1/CUR Current law statutes annotated
KF/23.H1/HAL Halsburys statutes
KF/23.L1/LAW Law reports
KF/26/IND Index to the statutes 1235-1989
KF/51.S2/BAR Star Chamber proceedings
KF/53.E6/ENG English reports
KF/60.A4/ALL All England reprints 1558-1935
KF/60.A5/ALL All England reports 1936- present
KH/6/AUS Australia. Senate bills
KH/7/AUS Australia. House of Reps bills
KH/16/AUS Australia. Commonwealth Acts
KH/21/AUS Australia. Commonwealth statutory rules
KH/41/AUS Commonwealth law reports

Secondary law

Comments on and discusses primary materials and includes text books, monographs and treatises, and are arranged by subject

KA – Jurisprudence
KB – General and Comparative Law
KC – International Law (primary and secondary)
KD – Religious legal systems
KE – Ancient and Medieval law
KL – Legal systems – Common law. Covers non-specific legal topics such as the legal profession, legal education, research, administration of justice and legal history
KM – Public law – Common law. Governs the relationship of individuals and the state and includes constitutional and administrative law, taxation and criminal law.
KN – Private law – Common law. Regulates the relationship between individuals and includes contract, torts (negligence actions), property, family, health, industrial, equity, trusts, corporate and commercial law.
KR – Africa (primary and secondary)
KS – Latin America (primary and secondary)
KT – Asia and Pacific (primary and secondary)
KV – Europe (primary and secondary)
KZ – Non-legal topic (combination of KZ and a Dewey number to incorporate non-legal material)

More in Secondary law:
KL/93.G1/CLA Advocacy techniques
KL/93.K1/CLA Trial tactics in Australia
KL/101.3/CLA A history of Gray’s Inn barristers
KL/241.G1/SMI A history of US judges
KL/241.K2S/SOU South Australian judges – a controversy
KM/61/WAD British constitutional law
KM/70/CON Canadian constitutional law
KM/76/LUM Australian constitutional law
KM/76/MAK Constitutional law of Australia
KM/76/SAW Constitutional law
KM/335.K1/AUS Australian taxation law
KM/337.11.K1/AUS Income tax law in Australia
KN/112.A1/CAM British copyright law
KN/112.G1/TRA US copyright laws
KN/210.A1/CLA English trust law
KN/210.F1/CLA Canadian trusts
KN/210.K1/PAR Australian trust law
KN/213.K1/TRU Capacity in trust law
KN/284.K1/NAP Consumer law in Australia
KZ/302.3/MUL Handbook of persuasive tactics
KZ/305.4/FEM Feminist contentions
KZ/418.02026/PRO Justice as translation
KZ/791.4372/FEW A few good men
KZ/973.9/BUR Crossing the postmodern divide

Main Topics

K Journals and Reference Books 340

1-28 Journals .01

29-79 Bibliography .02-04

80-90 Library and information science .05

100-107 Legal writing, publishing .06

110-114 Abbreviations, etc .07

120-126 Dictionaries, etc .08

140 Encyclopedias (general) .089

150-180 Directories .09

200 Maps, etc. .099

KA Jurisprudence 340.1

KB General and Comparative Law 340

10-22 Biography, memoirs etc .31-35

30-35 Legal miscellany .37

40-66 Popular accounts .4

100-250 Comparative law .5-6

KC International Law 341

10-65 Primary materials .11-16

71-76 Reference materials .17

80-86 General works .19

Public international law

100-136 General, history, theory etc .2-23

140-199 The State .24-31

200-209 Human rights .33

210-219 International criminal law .35-39

220-239 International economic law .4-43

240-242 Social laws .44-442

243 Environmental law .444-4444

245 Nuclear energy .448

250-255 Transport .45

256-259 Communications .46

260-277 International maritime law .47-48

280-284 Outer space .49

300-317 International relations .5-53

320-329 Diplomacy .54-5

330-339 Treaties .56-9

340-1199 International organizations .6

1200-1319 International disputes, courts etc .7

1350-1425 War .8

2000-2150 Conflict of laws .9

KD Religious Legal Systems 342

10-39 General .1

60-890 Jewish law .2

100-590 Christian churches .3-6

600-680 Islamic law .7

700-780 Hindu law .8

800-980 Others .9

KE Ancient and Medieval Law 343

5-20 General .1

21-29 Ancient Near East .2

30-95 Hellenistic law .3

100-250Roman law.1

251-300 Byzantine law .5

310-340 Other ancient European systems .6

350-380 Medieval and Pre-Napoleonic European law .7

400-480 Roman-Dutch law .8

500-540 Others .9

KF-KN Common Law 344-347

KF Primary materials 344

KG British Isles

KH Canada, US, West Indies

Treatises

KL General 345

1-44 Legal system .1

50-119 Legal profession .17

130-149 Legal education .178

155-179 Legal research, law reform .19

200-319 Administration of justice .2-7

400-480 Legal history .8-9

KM Public Law 346

1-29 General .01

Constitutional and administrative law

31-141 General .1-2

171-207 Citizens .3-35

208-229 Civil and human rights .36

231-259 Government .37-8

300-307 Administrative law .4

331-359 Public finance, taxation .5

361-391 Local government .6

400-416 Military law .7

Criminal law and procedure

500-565 General, crimes .8

570-690 Criminal procedure, law enforcement .9

KN Private Law 347

(1)-(4) Conflict of laws (alternative)(.1-4)

10-25 Contract, agency .1

30-39 Tort .2

Property

50-58 General .3-3057

60-98 Real property .31-35

100-118 Personal property .36-37

120-143 Inheritance and succession .38-39

Persons and social laws

150-169 Persons .4

170-176 Family law .42

180-182 Social services, education .43-.445

185 Public health, medical law .446-9

186 Controls in the public interest .45

190-198 Industrial law and relations .46

200-235 Equity .5

Commercial law

250-256 General, trade, etc .6-619

260-279 Business associations, industries .62-64

280-287 Sale of goods .65-67

290-295 Insurance .68-69

300-315 Finance, investment .7

320-329 Transport (non-maritime) .81-82

330-338 Maritime law .86

340-349 Communications law, computer law .84-89

350-399 Procedure (general and civil) .9

KP-KW Other Modern Legal Systems

KP Preferred Jurisdiction 348

KR Africa 349.6

KS Latin America .8

KT Asia And Pacific .5

KVEurope.4

KW European Union Law (Alternative)

KZ Non-Legal Subjects

Contents of the Book

This is the latest edition of Elizabeth Moys’ classic reference work for law librarians. This edition will bridge a 10-year gap since the 4th edition.

Substantial revisions will be made including extended coverage to feature new areas, resulting in a more comprehensive and reliable book for law librarians which will help them to classify their law publications effectively. This edition has been revised and expanded by Diana Morris in conjunction with a team of contributing editors, who use the scheme daily.

Tables

Other

Indexes
Index of Jurisdictions | 235
How to use the Index- Thesaurus | 251
Index-Thesaurus | 255

Conclusion

Notes

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Cataloging for legal materials, Classification for Law Libraries, Classification of Law Materials, Classification schemes in the UK, Common law, Comparative Law Classification (Max Planck Institute), Comparison of Library of Congress and Dewey classifications about Law, Dewey Decimal Classification, European Thesaurus on International Relations and Area Studies, European Union law, General Division Classification (Max Planck Institute), International law classification: JX System, KF Modified, Law Classification, Law library, Legal Thesaurus, Legal subjects, Library of Congress Classification Class K, Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Municipal law Classification (Max Planck Institute), Public International Law Classification (Max Planck Institute), Thesaurus of Law GenreForm Terms, Thesaurus.