McGill’s Law Library began in the middle of the 19th Century as a limited holding of law books assembled to support legal instruction at the Faculty of Law. This holding became a proper law library in 1882 when Judge Robert MacKay donated of his vast collection of law books, focused on Civil law, to McGill University. Throughout the past century and a half, the library has supported the teaching and research of Law at McGill. Currently, the Nahum Gelber Law Library provides access to the Legal resources required by its core users i.e. Since 1999, the Nahum Gelber Law Library supports the unique bilingual trans-systemic teaching program of the McGill Law Faculty, in which acquiring both Common Law and Civil Law degrees is mandatory. In addition to Canadian (Common and Civil) law, its collection has a special emphasis on Air and Space Law, Comparative Law, International Law, Conflict of Laws, Continental Private Law, Human Rights, Environmental and Medical Law. It also has legal materials from other jurisdictions such as Great Britain, France and the United States.
