The Society first issued its Statement of Minimum Holdings for Law Libraries in England and Wales in 1958. Revised versions appeared in 1970 and 1975. A supplementary list covering the law of the European Communities and of the then seven continental Member States appeared in 1974. The most recent revision, including the law of the Community but no longer of continental countries, appeared in 1986.

The present revision was authorised by the Council of the Society in 1992, in order to have a list which is up-to-date and also, being stored on disk, can be continuously revised. The list (whose purposes remain those stated in the introduction to the 1970 version by Professor Sir John Smith) must be regarded as provisional.