![French arbitration treatise from 1668 that can be translated as “Charitable arbitration to avoid trial and quarrels, or at least to end them quickly, without penalty and fees.”](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489417701/Charitable-Arbitration_PdSP_13346101_engraving-1_bw.jpg)
![Illustration of man from an early 17th century book in the HLS Historical and Special Collections](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489417901/Remedes_13346408_5th-fig_bw.jpg)
![A French coutume from 1579, a written record of early French law](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489417950/Coustumes_HLS-MS-221_HOLLIS-13481824_f.jpg)
![Title page of booklet titled](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489418097/Brownrigg_13901579_TP_bw.jpg)
![A scene from a pamphlet about an adultery trial of a man who sued his wife for divorce because of her alleged infidelity with a servant.](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489418477/Brownrigg_13901579_color-foldout_version-2-closer-crop.jpg)
![Illustration: Symonds sets fire to the Franklin House at Hudson.](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489418725/Illustration_Symonds-sets-fire_HOLLIS-013905602.jpg)
![Farewell to the World of Richard Bishop, Who Now Lies Under Sentence of Death in Maidstone Gaol, for the Murder of Alfred Cartwright.](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489418862/Richard-Bishop.jpg)
![1725 manuscript “Offices proper to be used with criminals and debtors” from John Disney, the vicar of St. Mary’s in Nottingham, which details how to minister to prisoners.](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489419012/OfficesProper_HLS-MS-4490_13836866_TP_bw.jpg)
![1725 manuscript “Offices proper to be used with criminals and debtors” from John Disney, the vicar of St. Mary’s in Nottingham, which details how to minister to prisoners.](https://res.cloudinary.com/hls200/image/upload/c_limit,dpr_auto,h_1000,w_1600,q_70/v1489419081/OfficesProper_HLS-MS-4490_13836866_Fol-1_bw.jpg)
Gallery: Of Sammelbands, Coutumes and Broadsides
The HLS Library’s Historical & Special Collections department is always in search of material that shows how people thought about and understood the law throughout recorded history.
Read more at Harvard Law Today.