Halsbury's Laws of England
Any edition from the 3rd to the current 5th. Full sets, part sets, and current-service binders all considered.
Sell your Halsbury's Laws set →We buy law books, UK & Ireland-wide
Sell Your Law Books & Law Library
Halsbury's is online now. Yours is still on the shelf.
We buy complete and partial law libraries — Halsbury's Laws, the All England Law Reports, and the practitioner texts that sit alongside them — from solicitors, barristers, chambers, firms, retiring lawyers and private sellers across the UK and Ireland.
Prefer we call you? Request a call back →
We collect directly from your shelves
Free, fast collection — sometimes within the hour
Valued within 24 hours
Complete or partial sets
+10%on a matched written quote — see terms
10,000+books collected
24 hrsvaluation turnaround, often much sooner
100+chambers & firms worked with
What we buy
English law libraries, from a single incomplete run to a full chambers collection.
All England Law Reports
Bound volumes from any period since 1936. A complete run is ideal, but we'll value a partial one too.
Sell your All ER set →The Law Reports & Weekly Law Reports
ICLR's official series and its weekly companion — a staple of most chambers libraries.
Practitioner texts
Chitty on Contracts, Archbold, Atkin's Court Forms, the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, and other standard works, wherever they sit on your shelves.
We also buy titles including:
Law reports & case series
Encyclopaedias & statutes
Practitioner texts
Don't see your set listed? Tell us on the enquiry form below — if it's a recognised law report, encyclopaedia, or practitioner text, we're almost certainly interested. Or see the complete list of everything we buy.
Start here
Who this is for.
Pick the situation closest to yours — if you have English law books, almost certainly we're a good fit.
How it works
Three steps, start to collection.
01 — Enquire
Submit your enquiry
Tell us what you have — the set, the edition, and roughly how many volumes. Photos help but aren't essential.
02 — Value
We value your set
We come back with a fair offer, usually within 24 hours, based on edition, completeness, and condition.
03 — Collect
We collect and pay
Accept the offer and we arrange free, fast collection anywhere in the UK or Ireland — sometimes within the hour for local pickups. We box everything free of charge and collect through our delivery partners. We pay by cash on collection, cheque, or bank transfer, and payment can be arranged in as little as 30 minutes during working hours.
What affects value
“If I send photographs, will you just offer me £50?”
It's a fair worry, and worth answering directly rather than leaving you to wonder. A library built up over decades isn't something you want valued from a single photograph and handed a token figure for.
Every collection is assessed individually. There is no per-book formula, because a formula would get it wrong in both directions — undervaluing a complete current run and overvaluing a shelf of superseded odd volumes. What we actually look at:
Edition and currency
Which edition, and how far the law has moved since. A current edition of a practitioner text is a different proposition from one three editions back.
Completeness of the run
Usually the single biggest factor. An unbroken run is worth materially more than the same volume count with gaps in it.
Condition
Ordinary shelf wear is expected and priced in without comment. Real damage reduces the figure rather than ruling anything out.
Specialist content
A narrow specialism with a small but real readership can be worth more than a general text that every firm already owns a copy of.
Current demand
What practitioners and smaller firms are genuinely asking for right now, which shifts over time and differs by subject area.
Size of the collection
A whole working library is usually worth more as a library than the sum of its parts, because it saves a buyer assembling one piece by piece.
Two further things worth knowing. If someone else has given you a written quote, we'll beat it by 10% — so you're never worse off for having asked around first. And if the honest answer is that a collection has little or no resale value, we'll say so plainly rather than make a token offer, and still collect it free.
Before you enquire
You don't have to sort them first.
This is the single most common reason people put off getting in touch — the sense that a library needs organising, listing or identifying before anyone will look at it. It doesn't. Photograph the shelves as they stand and we'll work out what's there.
You don't need to know what's valuable
That's our job, not yours. Spines in a photograph tell us the title, edition and roughly how complete a run is — far faster than you could list it, and more accurately.
You don't need to separate anything
Complete libraries, partial ones, superseded editions, journals, loose-leaf binders and damaged sets can all go in the same enquiry. We'll tell you which parts carry value.
You don't need to box or move them
We box everything ourselves, free of charge, and collect from wherever the books currently sit — including upstairs, in storage, or still on the shelves.
However many books there are
Fifty volumes or five thousand — size isn't a barrier. Large collections are welcome, and a whole working library is often worth more valued as one enquiry than piecemeal.
However old or incomplete
A superseded edition or a run with gaps still gets a proper look. We'll tell you what carries value and what doesn't, rather than assume either way.
The easiest way to start: take three to six photographs of your shelves, add a rough idea of how many volumes there are, and send them over. That's genuinely enough for a valuation, usually within 24 hours.
Get my free valuation →What you get back
Money for the books, and the room they were in.
Most of the libraries we buy have been paid for twice — once when they were bought, and again every year since in the floor space they take up. Selling settles both at the same time.
Paid for the books
Cash on collection, cheque or bank transfer, whichever suits you, and often within 30 minutes of you accepting the valuation. Nothing is deducted for boxing, collection or removal — the figure we quote is the figure you get.
The space back
A full set of Halsbury’s takes a wall, and a decade of law reports takes a room. Once it has gone you have desks, storage or a meeting room where the shelving was — and no supplement subscriptions to justify at the next budget. Clearing a whole office →
Libraries we’ve bought
Recent collections.
2,500+ books across three chambers — London
Three separate sets of chambers, collected in a single run rather than three visits. At that scale it’s a truck and a planned route, not a courier and a pile of boxes.
700-volume chambers library — London
A full set of chambers cleared in one collection. At that size the practical questions are access, timing and who does the lifting.
484-volume library, retired barrister — Manchester
A career’s worth of books rather than chambers clearing out — no lease deadline, no committee. More on selling a library at retirement.
200-volume chambers library — Ireland
Collection from the Republic works the same way as anywhere else we cover, at no cost. More on selling law books in Dublin.
Described at the level of detail our clients are comfortable with — chambers and firms clearing a library generally prefer not to be named, and we’d rather respect that than dress these up.
Submit a query to sell
The enquiry slip.
A few details now saves a back-and-forth later. We'll reply with a valuation, usually within 24 hours.
Enquiry slip no.
SLB-000000-000
Date—
Received
We've got your collection enquiry.
Your reference is SLB-000000-000. Worth making a note of it — quoting it saves you explaining everything again if you call.
What happens next
- We review what you've sent, including any photographs.
- If anything's unclear, we'll come back with a question — usually just one.
- You get a valuation, normally within 24 hours.
- If you accept, we arrange free collection around your schedule and pay by cash, cheque or bank transfer.
Got more photographs? Send them to info@SellLawBooks.co.uk quoting your reference and we'll add them to the file. There's no limit at that end.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 0161 531 8232 — the line is open around the clock, any day of the week.
Rather have this in WhatsApp? The button below opens a message to us with what you’ve just sent already written out. Nothing is sent until you press send in WhatsApp, and replying in that thread is often the quickest way to add a photograph later.
Why sell to us
We've done this before.
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We do the heavy lifting
Fifty volumes of Halsbury’s is not a job for the post room. We box everything free of charge and arrange collection anywhere in the UK or Ireland through our delivery partners, whose vehicles do the carrying. A full room of shelves is a scheduled job sized to the load, and several sites can be cleared in one go where that’s simpler.
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Fair valuation
Complete or partial, 4th edition or 5th — every set gets a proper valuation, not a guess.
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We'll beat a genuine quote by 10%
Already been quoted elsewhere? Send us the written quote and we'll add 10% to it — provided it's a set we buy, complete and in good condition, and once we've confirmed collection is practical.
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Handled quietly
Enquiries are confidential. No signage, no fuss — no one else in chambers needs to know.
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A second working life
Sets we buy don't go to landfill. Most move on to smaller practices, students, or common law jurisdictions where English precedent still carries weight.
Areas we cover
UK and Ireland-wide collection, with local pages for the biggest legal centres
What you can rely on
Three things we won't compromise on.
A straight answer, always
If part of your set isn't worth buying, we'll say so plainly rather than lowball the rest to make up for it.
No pressure, ever
A valuation is free and carries no obligation. Decline it, sit on it, or use it to compare against another offer — genuinely fine either way.
Everything, not just the good bits
Current editions get a cash offer. Outdated ones still get collected and recycled, free of charge, rather than being left for you to deal with.
Common questions
Before you enquire
What types of law books do you buy?
If you want to sell second-hand law books in the UK, or sell practitioner law books specifically, this is our full range: complete and partial sets of English law reports, encyclopaedias and practitioner texts — including Halsbury's Laws of England, the All England Law Reports, the Law Reports, and standard works such as Chitty on Contracts and Archbold. We buy and sell legal books across the UK, though we don't generally buy single student textbooks.
Do you buy incomplete or partial sets?
Yes. A complete run is worth more, but we value and buy partial sets too — tell us what you have and we'll price it accordingly.
How is my set valued?
Valuation is based on three things: completeness, edition, and physical condition. We reply with a figure, usually within 24 hours of your enquiry.
Do you collect from anywhere in the UK or Ireland?
Yes — anywhere in the UK, and we collect from the Republic of Ireland too. If you've searched "sell law books near me", wherever you are counts: free law book collection direct from your chambers, office, or home, arranged around you rather than the other way round.
How fast is collection?
Arranged at a time that suits you rather than a fixed schedule of ours — sometimes within the hour for local pickups during working hours, and always worked out around your diary rather than the other way round.
How fast is a valuation?
Usually within 24 hours of sending a photo of what's on the shelf. No inspection visit needed to get a figure — completeness, edition, and condition tell us most of what we need.
I've been quoted by someone else — will you beat it?
Yes, on sets that meet three conditions: it's a title we buy, the set is complete, and it's in good condition. Send us the written quote and we'll add 10% to it, once we've checked the books match the description and confirmed collection is practical. We'll agree the final figure with you before you commit to anything. The quote itself needs to be a genuine written offer from another UK law book buyer, dated, and for the same books. We still buy partial sets and older editions as normal — it's only the 10% uplift that requires a complete set in good condition.
Do I need to box everything myself?
No. We box everything free of charge as part of collection, arranged through our delivery partners — you don't need to source boxes, pack anything, or lift a single volume.
Can you send boxes out before collection?
Yes, free of charge and as many as the job needs, with no limit on the number. Most people do not need them, because we box everything ourselves when we collect. They are worth asking for if you would rather pack gradually in your own time, or if the books are somewhere awkward to clear in a single visit. Tell us roughly how many volumes there are and we will send enough.
How do I get paid?
Whichever suits you — cash on collection, cheque, or bank transfer. Once you have accepted our valuation, payment can be arranged in as little as 30 minutes during working hours.
What happens to the books after you buy them?
Most sets are resold to smaller practices, students, or common law jurisdictions overseas where English precedent is still widely used.
I'm not sure what my law books are worth — can I still sell my law books?
Yes. Just describe what you have on the enquiry form — you don't need to know the value yourself. We'll assess it and come back with a cash offer, usually within 24 hours.
What if I'd rather donate my books than sell them?
That's fine. We work with Donate Law Books, who collect law book donations free of charge and redistribute them where they're needed. Tell us on the enquiry form and we'll put you in touch, or go to them directly.
Prefer to talk it through?
Request a call back
Leave your number and we'll call you back directly — no form to complete, no obligation. Or call or message us on 0161 531 8232, Manchester-based — the same number works on WhatsApp too.