How To Find Legal Information

Selected Resources for Legal Research

Call numbers refer to locations in Sawyer Library.

Federal & State Statutory Law

Statutory law derives from statutes (laws passed by legislatures) rather than from constitutions or judicial decisions.

United States Code - Federal Law arranged by Title (topic)

  • U.S. Code (1994 - current) online Available from the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) Search by keyword, citation or popular name. The U.S. Code is issued in print every six years. Library has U.S. Code in print 1952 - 2000 K104 .U61. The 2006 edition has not been released.
  • WestLaw Campus Research (Current U.S. Code only) The U. S. Code section of this database contains documents from titles of the United States Code Annotated, and includes court rules and appendices. Library also has print version of U.S. Code Annotated K104 .U61a, 1927 - current; includes historical notes and related references.
  • Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe - Codes and Regulations (Current U.S. Code only) Choose "Codes and Regulations", then Federal.

United States Statutes At Large - Federal Law arranged chronologically

  • K104 .U6 U.S. Statutes at Large
    • Public and private laws enacted by Congress; concurrent and joint resolutions of Congress; and the text of Presidential proclamations are arranged chronologically in discrete series. Library has Statutes at Large [Vol. 1] 1789 - current. Recently enacted laws (1994 - current) may be searched online through the Government Printing Office. Full-text of historic Statutes at Large (1789-1875) may be viewed and searched through the Library of Congress at Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation.

State Codes - State Law arranged by Title (topic).

Federal & State Regulations

Federal and State regulations are specific rules issued by administrative agencies to enforce statutory law. Draft and proposed regulations are published in the Federal Register (and equivalent State publications) prior to final rules codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (and equivalent State publications).

Federal Regulations

The Federal Register (FR) has been published since 1936 and "is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of United States federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents." The daily FR is arranged chronologically. It is codified (arranged by subject, or "title") in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

State Regulations

Federal & State Case Law

Case law is the "law to be found in the collection of reported cases that form all or part of the body of law within a given jurisdiction". Black's Law Dictionary, 8th edition (see reference below).

  • Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe - Case Law Choose "Get a case" if you have the legal citation or names of the parties. Choose "Federal Case Law" or "State Case Law" to search by topic or keyword.
  • WestLaw Campus Research Provides state and federal cases, rules, judicial and administrative decisions. First choose the "Law" tab, then choose under "Cases" the section you need. Use WestLaw Key Cite function to determine actions on your case after the initial decision.

Supreme Court Opinions

  • Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe - Case Law and WestLaw Campus Research , noted above, also give access to Supreme Court Opinions. Search either database by keyword or legal citation.
  • K101.S8 U6 (1790-current) United States Reports
    The official bound edition of the full text of Supreme Court decisions; contains tables of cases, statutes cited, and a subject index. "Slip opinions", not yet published in U.S. Reports, are only available online; choose "Opinions" at Supreme Court home.
  • Legal Information Institute Published Supreme Court opinions since 1990. Additionally, the LII Collection of Historic Decisions provides over 600 of the Court's most important decisions (1790-current), arranged by topic, by Justice author, and by parties.
  • FLITE: Federal Legal Information through Electronics Historic file of Supreme Court Decisions available online, 1937 through 1975, volumes 300 through 422 of U.S. Reports.

International Law

Statutory and case law

  • Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe - International Legal Materials Choose "Canadian Legislative Materials" or "Canadian Statutes and Regulations", "EU Law" (cases and statutory law) or "Commonwealth and Foreign Nations" (includes Ireland, Australia, Mexico, GATT-related, Hong Kong, UK, South Africa) (mostly case law). Citations in the above sources may reference JX68 .I5 International Legal Materials I.L.M. (library has complete run 1962-current)
  • WestLaw Campus Research Select the "Law" tab, then "European Union Library"
    Cases, statutory law, treaties and human rights documents from the European Court of Justice.

Arbitration and dispute resolution - Intergovernmental

  • International Court of Justice (1946-current; online) The judicial organ of the United Nations. Select "decisions" for text of judgments and opinions. Library also has print JX1971.6 .H3r from 1946-current.
  • Permanent Court of International Justice (1922-1946; online) The judicial organ of the League of Nations. Collection of judgments and opinions, arranged by series.
  • JX1991 .H25 (1920-current) United Nations Reports of International Arbitral Awards (R.I.A.A.) / Recueil des sentences arbitrales. Volumes include table of cases and subject index.
  • JX1971 .S26 (1902-1928) Digest of the decisions of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Organized by topic, with texts in German, French and English.
  • JX1971 .H3 (1899-1932) The Hague Court Reports (First and Second Series) Awards and documents of each case submitted before the first Permanent Court of Arbitration and Commission of Inquiry, under the provisions of the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 for the "pacific settlement of international disputes".

Arbitration and dispute resolution - Trade

Treaties and Conventions

  • United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) (1920-current) Library subscription database contains the full text of treaties and international agreements to which U.N. member nations are party. Includes the League of Nations Treaty Series (LNTS) 1920-1944. See main United Nations website for more general info.
  • Government Documents S 9.14: Treaties in Force (current only), also available online. Annual list of all bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements to which the United States is party that are in effect as of January 1 of the current year.
  • REF JX231 .U5 Cumulative Indexes to United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (1776-1983). Cumulative Indexes are in discrete series and are arranged by treaty number, chronology, country, and by subject. From 1776-1950, treaties and international agreements were published in Statutes at Large K104 .U6. From 1950-1983, the full-text of treaties is found in JX231 .U5, located on the mezzanine level. Use the index located in Reference Dept. to get the correct citation.
  • United States Treaties and other International Agreements (1984-current) continues as separate "slip" treaties in location Government Documents S 9.10: [numbered]. These are arranged numerically by date of signing.
  • ILOLEX Database of International Labour Standards ILOLEX is a trilingual database containing International Labour Organization Conventions and Recommendations, ratification information, comments of the Committee of Experts and the Committee on Freedom of Association, representations, complaints, interpretations, General Surveys, and numerous related documents.
  • NATLEX Database of individual nation labour, social security and related human rights legislation, maintained by ILO. Records in NATLEX provide abstracts and some full-text of legislation and relevant citation information, and they are indexed by keywords and by subject classifications.
  • International Organization for Standardization ISO standards are technical agreements which provide the framework for compatible technology worldwide. Site links to purchase options, which may be available through InterLibrary Loan. Contact Rebecca Ohm for assistance.

United Nations Resolutions

International Crime

  • International Criminal Court Description, history, founding and implementation documents ... "an independent permanent International Criminal Court in relationship with the United Nations system, with jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole". Official web site of the International Criminal Court.
  • Interpol "facilitates cross-border police co-operation, and supports and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime."

Human Rights

Environment

  • Ecolex Searchable database on global environmental law.

Constitutions

Law Reviews

Legal Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and other Reference Works

  • Oxford Reference Online - Law Brief overviews of selected law topics.
  • XreferPlus Online - Law Brief overviews of selected law topics.
  • K101.A1 C6 Corpus Juris Secundum: A Complete Restatement of the Entire American Law
    Comprehensive and exhaustive legal encyclopedia updated regularly with pocket parts and new volumes as needed. Footnotes contain citations to important reported cases.
  • REF KF90 .S538 Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names, Federal and State
  • REF KF156 .B53 2004 Black's Law Dictionary
  • REF KF246 .B46 2001 Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
  • REF KF4548 .E53 2000 Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
    Covers doctrinal concepts, judicial decisions, individuals and historical periods.